먹이다 but can’t figure out where to look without a name. Thanks so much! And thank you even if you don’t have an answer, your blog is really helpful!

Hi! I believe they are called causative verbs. There are some general rules about which suffix to use depending on what letter the original verb ends with, but there are many exceptions and sometimes you just have to memorise them! Here’s a good list of the rules from TTMIK.

~(으)ㅁ = clause or sentence into noun group

(~다는/라는 것 is much more common,

~(으)ㅁ is very formal and mostly used in official documents and formal situations)

오늘이 제 생일임을 (생일이라는 것을)

아무도 몰랐어요.= Nobody knew that today was my birthday.
그 사람이 한국 사람임을

(한국 사람이라는 것을) 저는 알고 있었어요 = I knew that he was Korean.

(used instead of

~기 when before certain verbs, usually when it is about a fact or whether something is right or wrong)

그 사람은 자신이 무죄임을 주장했어요 = He claimed that he was innocent (his own innocence)
무죄임을 증명했어요 = I proved that I am innocent (my innocence)

Noun ~(이)라는 것 = the thing called ____ is, what I call ___ is, (I think that)

평화라는 것은… = (I think that) Peace is…
우정이라는 것은… = (In my opinion, the nature of) Friendship is…

Verb ~(ㄴ/는)다는 것 = the act of ___, the thing that is called ____ used to express what you think the definition or the nature of a certain action/state/verb

배운다는 것은 언제나 즐거운 일이에요 = Learning is always a pleasant thing to do.
외국에 산다는 것은 가끔 힘들 때도 있어요. = The nature of living overseas is that there are sometimes hard times.
혼자 공부한다는 것은 생각만큼 쉽지 않아요 = Studying alone is not as easy as you think.
주말에도 회사에 가야 한다는 건 정말 슬픈 일이에요 = Having to go to work on the weekend is so sad.
아이를 키운다는 건 참 힘든 일이에요 = Raising a child is very tough.
한국에서 유명한 가수가 된다는 건 정말 어려운 일이에요 = Becoming a famous singer in Korea is a very difficult thing.
장학금을 받는다는 것은 정말 대단한 일이에요 = Receiving scholarship is (an) amazing (achievement)

Causative verbs suffixes 이, 히, 리, 기, 우, 구, 추

이 after a vowel sometimes after ㄱ

녹다 = to melt / 녹이다 = to make something melt, to melt something
보다 = to see / 보이다 = to show
높다 = to be high / 높이다 = to make something higher, to heighten

히 after ㄱ, ㄷ, or ㅂ

입다 = to wear / 입히다 = to dress someone
읽다 = to read / 읽히다 = to have someone read
앉다 = to sit / 앉히다 = to seat someone, to make someone sit
밝다 = to be bright / 밝히다 = to brighten

리 after ㄹ or ㄷ irregular

울다 = to cry / 울리다 = to make someone cry
놀다 = to play / 놀리다 = to let/make someone play, to tease

기 after ㄴ, ㅁ, or ㅅ

신다 = to wear (shoes) / 신기다 = to make someone wear (shoes)
안다 = to hug / 안기다 = to make someone hug someone

우/구/추 no general rule!

낮다 = to be low / 낮추다 = to lower, to make something lower
맞다 = to fit / 맞추다 = to guess correctly, to make something fit
자다 = to sleep / 재우다 = to make someone sleep
크다 = to be big / 키우다 = to enlarge, grow raise
차다 = to be filled up / 채우다 = to fill

Examples:

아이들 울리지 마세요 = Don’t make the kids cry.
너무 높으니까 좀 낮춰 주세요 = It’s too high, so lower it a little.
다른 것도 보여 주세요 = Show me some other things, too.
아이 세 명을 키우고 있어요 = I am raising three kids.
그는 농담으로 모두를 웃겼다 = He made everyone laugh with his jokes.
아이에게 양말을 신기다 = put socks on a child

Descriptive verbs + ~아/어/여 하다 for third person

친구 만나는 것이 즐거워요 = I enjoy meeting my friend.
마리아가 친구 만나는 것을 즐거워해요 = Maria enjoys meeting her friend.

In the first sentence is ‘meeting’ the subject and can be placed with a descriptive verb. In the second sentence Maria is the subject and ‘meeting’ becomes the object of an action verb.

부모님을 못 보는 것이 슬프다 = I am sad about not seeing my parents (not being able to meet my parents is sad.)
부모님을 못 보는 것을 슬퍼해요 = He is sad about not being able to see his parents.

나는 이 책이 저 책보다 좋다 = I like this book better than that book. (this book is better)
나는 이 책을 저 책보다 좋아한다 = I like this book better than that book.

나는 영화가 보고 싶다 = I want to see a movie.
알렉스도 영화를 보고 싶어한다 = Alex also wants to see a movie.

나는 네가 기뻐할 줄 알았다 = I thought you would be pleased
들이 회사의 성공을 기뻐 하다 = They are pleased with the company’s success
그 소식을 듣고 젠나 씨가 제일 슬퍼했어요 = Jenna was the most sad when hearing about the news.

more passive verbs (피동사)

Action verb + ~아/어/여지다

자르다 → 잘라지다 (to cut → to be cut)
풀다 → 풀어지다 (to untie → to be untied)
주다 → 주어지다 (to give → to be given)

되다 is passive voice of 하다

이용하다 → 이용되다 (to be used)
연구하다 → 연구되다 (to be researched)

Sometimes people will use ~아/어/여지다 and ~이/히/리/기 or 되다 together for emphasis of the passive voice.

놓다 → 놓이다 → 놓여지다 (to put down → to be put down)
안다 → 안기다 → 안겨지다 (to hug → to be hugged)

이용되다 → 이용되어지다
연구되다 → 연구되어지다

studybuddykor:

So I put up a passive suffixes table last week, and here’s the causative suffixes table to go with it. Like I said, although I frequently cannot pull these out of my brain fast enough when speaking, being able to recognize them when listening or reading is sooo helpful.

Causative is used when A causes/makes/lets/enables/permits/gets/has B (to) do something. Here’s an example:
ACTIVE: 미아가 웃었어요. (Mia laughed.)
CAUSATIVE: 내가 미아를 웃겼어요. (I made Mia laugh.)

So just like with passive, a few things happen when a sentence becomes causative.

A new subject (who causes the action) is introduced. (내가 미아를 웃겼어요.)

When there’s no object involved (intransitive verbs), the original subject becomes the object of the sentence. (미아가 —> 미아를) When there is an object already (transitive verbs), the object stays the same and the original subject gets one of these particles to show that it’s receiving the action: 한테, 에게, or 께 (in order of increasing politeness). You can see a bunch of these examples below.

The verb changes to its causative form. (웃었어요 —> 웃겼어요)

Also like passive, there are a few ways to make the causative form, and I want to focus mainly on the suffixes, but:

Verb stem + 게 하다. This works for all verbs, but not all verbs are commonly made causative with this construction.
인부들이 길을 넓게 했다.
The workers widened the road. (made the road get wider)
친구들이 나를 못 자게 했어요.
My friends didn’t let me sleep.

Action verb stem + 도록 하다. Same as above, but only works with action verbs.
선생님께서 학생들에게 청소를 하도록 했다.
The teacher made the students clean.

하다 verbs become 시키다.
남동생한테 심부름을 시켰다.
I made my younger brother run errands.

OKAY, yay, now finally, the last way to change verbs is by using the suffixes 이/히/리/기/우/구/추:

The suffixes 이/히/리/기/우/구/추 can be attached to some (not all) verbs (but for the verbs that they can be attached to, this is the most common way to make these verbs causative).
알다 (to know) —> 알리다 (to let someone know)
도착시간을 알려 주세요.
Let me know what time you’ll arrive.
벗다 (to take off clothes) —> 벗기다 (to undress someone)
제가 아기 신발을 벗겼어요.
I took off the baby’s shoes.

There are spelling rules as to which verbs take which suffix, but because there are sooooooo many exceptions, it’s best just to learn them one by one. But this chart has a bunch of common ones, which should be a pretty good start!

Making adjectives

Action verb ~는 (present), ~(으)ㄴ (past), ~(으)ㄹ (future)
Descriptive verb

~(으)ㄴ, 있/없는 (past/present), ~(으)ㄹ (future)

(for verbs ending in ㄹ, drop the ㄹ and add –는)

좋아하는 노래 = a song that I like
나쁜 사람 = a bad person.
행복할 사람 = a person that will be happy

더 작은 가방 있어요? = do you have a smaller bag?
시원한 커피 마시고 싶어요 = I want to drink some cold coffee
자주 먹는 한국 음식 있어요? = is there a Korean food that you eat often?
자주 가는 카페 있어요? = is there a café that you go to often?
요즘 좋아하는 가수는 누구예요 = which singer do you like these days?
요즘 공부하고 있는 외국어는 일본어예요 = the foreign language I’m studying these days is Japanese.
눈이 오는 날에는 영화 보고 싶어요 = on a day that it snows, I want to see a movie.
저기 있는 사람, 아는 사람이에요? = that person over there, is it someone you know?
배 고픈 사람 (있어요)? = anybody (who is) hungry?

~던, ~았/었/였던 = used to do/be something (not anymore, didn’t finish) present progressive

(just ~던 is okay for action verbs, ~았/었/였던 for more emphasis on the past. for descriptive verbs almost always use ~았/었/였던)

예전에 제가 자주 가던 곳이에요 = I used to go to this place often in the past
예뻤던 경은 씨가 지금은… = Kyeong-eun, who used to be pretty, is now…
작년에는 키가 작았던 석진 씨가 지금은 키가 커요 = Seokjin, who used to be short, is now tall.
친했던 친구들이 지금은 다 외국에 살아요 = The friends I used to be close to are all living overseas now
지난 주에 이야기하던 거예요 = This is what we were talking about last week.
그 날은 좋았던 날이었다 = That was a good day
행복했던 기억을 생각하고 있다 = I’m thinking about happy memories
내가 읽던 책은 재미없었어 = the book I was reading wasn’t funny

To get, to become descriptive verb: ~아/어 지다

~아/어져요 (지어요)
~아/어졌어요
~아/어질 거에요

좋아져요 = become/get better
추워져요 = become/get cold
슬프져요 = become/get sad
예뻐졌어 – got prettier
똑똑해졌어요 = became/got smarter
똥똥해졌어요 = became/got fat
나빠졌어요 = became worse or got bad
나빠질 거에요 = will become worse/bad
더워질 거에요 = will become hot

날씨는 주말에 추워졌어 = The weather got cold over the weekend
저의 여자 친구는 예뻐지고 있어요 = My girlfriend is getting pretty
집 값은 비싸지고 있어 = House prices are getting expensive
날씨가 따뜻해졌어 – The weather has become warm.
컴퓨터가 빨라졌어요 – The computer has become fast.
한국어 공부가 재미있어졌어요 – Studying Korean has become fun
내일 다시 추워질 거예요 – It will become cold again tomorrow

~아/어지고 싶다 – I want to be

나는 행복해지고 싶어 – I want to become happy (I want to be happy)
나는 예뻐지고 싶어 – I want to become pretty (I want to be pretty)

with an ACTION verb, this forms the passive

자르다 – to cut —> 잘라지다 – to be cut
주다 – to give —> 주어지다 – to be given

달라지다 = to change, to become different (다르다)
여기 많이 달라졌어요 = This place has changed a lot.
뭔가 달라진 것 같아요 = I feel like something has changed.

좋아지다 = to get better, to improve, to be enhanced, to start to like
이 가수가 좋아졌어요 = I started to like this singer
노래 실력이 좋아졌어요 = My singing skills have improved.

많아지다 = to increase
한국으로 여행 오는 사람들이 많아졌어요 = The (number of) people who come to Korea for traveling have increased.
학생이 많아졌어요 = The students have increase

없어지다 = to disappear
제 핸드폰이 없어졌어요 = My cellphone has disappeared
아까 여기 있었는데 없어졌어요 = It was here earlier but it disappeared.

하다 —> 되다

이용하다 – to use —> 이용되다 – to be used