Forming Adverbs with -게 | Korean Grammar

If you know just one way to make a Korean adverb, make it -게. Attach it to the stem of a descriptive verb (what English calls an adjective) or an action verb, and you get a manner or degree adverb: 조용하다 → 조용하게 ("quietly"), 크다 → 크게 ("loudly, big"), 빠르다 → 빠르게 ("quickly"), 맛있다 → 맛있게 ("deliciously"). Because Korean adjectives are verbs, -게 is the natural way to turn a quality into "in an X manner," and — crucially — it works on essentially every stem, including words that entered the language yesterday.

How -게 works

Drop the dictionary -다 ending, add -게 to the bare stem. That's the whole rule, and it has no exceptions worth worrying about: 조용하- → 조용하게, 크- → 크게, 예쁘- → 예쁘게. The suffix never changes shape and never triggers an irregular alternation.

아이가 방에서 조용하게 앉아 있어요.

aiga bang-eseo joyonghage anja isseoyo

The child is sitting quietly in the room.

좀 더 크게 말해 주세요.

jom deo keuge malhae juseyo

Please speak a bit louder.

아이가 정말 예쁘게 웃어요.

aiga jeongmal yeppeuge useoyo

The child smiles so sweetly.

The most important property of -게 is that it is productive — a live rule, not a memorized list. It attaches happily to brand-new loanwords and coinages, which the frozen -이/-히 adverbs cannot.

그 앱은 정말 심플하게 만들어졌어요.

geu aebeun jeongmal simpeulhage mandeureojeosseoyo

That app is designed really simply.

💡

-게 is your safe default. Whenever you can't recall whether an adjective has a special -이/-히 adverb, derive it with -게 — the result is always grammatical and always natural (조용하게, 빠르게, 심플하게). Only a small frozen set has -이/-히 forms; -게 works on everything.

The second job: resultative "so that it becomes X"

-게 does more than make plain manner adverbs. Placed before another verb, it forms a resultative — it names the state that the action is meant to bring about. 짧게 자르다 isn't "cut in a short manner"; it's "cut it so that it becomes short." This is one of the most useful patterns in everyday Korean, everywhere from the hair salon to the kitchen.

머리를 짧게 잘랐어요.

meorireul jjalge jallasseoyo

I cut my hair short. (so that it became short)

방을 깨끗하게 청소했어요.

bang-eul kkaekkeutage cheongsohaesseoyo

I cleaned the room until it was spotless.

고기를 잘게 썰어 주세요.

gogireul jalge sseoreo juseyo

Please chop the meat finely (into small pieces).

In each case the -게 phrase describes the end state the action produces — short hair, a spotless room, small pieces of meat — not the manner of the doing. English needs a whole "so that…" clause or a special resultative adjective ("cut it short," "wipe it clean") to say the same thing.

맛있게 드세요.

masitge deuseyo

Enjoy your meal. (lit. eat deliciously)

오늘 하루도 행복하게 보내세요.

oneul harudo haengbokage bonaeseyo

Have a happy day today too.

Preview: -게 하다, "make/let someone do"

Once you're comfortable with resultative -게, you're one step from the causative -게 하다 ("make/let someone do something"). It's the same -게, now followed by 하다 ("to make it so"): 자- → 자게 하다 ("make [someone] sleep").

아이를 일찍 자게 했어요.

aireul iljjik jage haesseoyo

I made the kids go to bed early.

The full treatment — including how it differs from the suffix causatives — lives on the -게 하다 causative page. For now, just notice that the adverb-forming -게 and the causative -게 하다 are the same building block.

The reframe: one English -ly, two Korean routes

English has a single all-purpose adverb suffix, -ly, so learners expect one Korean equivalent. But Korean splits the job between the productive -게 and a small frozen set of -이/-히 adverbs (많이 "a lot," 조용히 "quietly," 깨끗이 "cleanly"). Some qualities have both a -게 form and a -이/-히 form (조용하게 ~ 조용히); many have only -게. The division of labor:

	-게	-이 / -히
Rule type	productive — derive on the fly	frozen — memorized vocabulary
Coverage	essentially every stem	a closed high-frequency list
New/borrowed words	yes (심플하게, 스마트하게)	no
Example	빠르게, 크게, 맛있게	많이, 같이, 정확히

💡

Don't hunt for a "dictionary adverb" for every adjective. Most adjectives simply don't have a frozen -이/-히 form — for them, deriving with -게 is the correct adverb, not a fallback. 맛있게 is the real word for "deliciously"; there's no separate ×맛있이 to find.

Common Mistakes

1. Dropping 하 from a 하다-stem. The stem of 조용하다 is 조용하-, so the adverb is 조용하게, not ×조용게. The 하 is part of the stem, not an optional syllable.

❌ 조용게 말해요.

Wrong — the stem is 조용하-, so the adverb is 조용하게 (or the lexical 조용히).

✅ 조용하게 말해요.

joyonghage malhaeyo

Speak quietly.

2. Using the dictionary form as an adverb. The plain -다 form is a predicate, not an adverb; you must derive the adverb with -게.

❌ 방을 깨끗하다 청소했어요.

Wrong — 깨끗하다 is the dictionary predicate; the adverb is 깨끗하게 (or 깨끗이).

✅ 방을 깨끗하게 청소했어요.

bang-eul kkaekkeutage cheongsohaesseoyo

I cleaned the room spotless.

3. Inventing a fake -이/-히 adverb. -이/-히 is a closed set; don't extend it to stems that only take -게.

❌ 좀 더 빠르히 걸어요.

No such word — 빠르다 has no -히 form; use 빠르게 (or the lexical 빨리).

✅ 좀 더 빠르게 걸어요.

jom deo ppareuge georeoyo

Walk a bit faster.

4. Attaching -게 to a bare noun. -게 goes on a predicate stem. 행복 is a noun; the predicate is 행복하-, so it's 행복하게.

❌ 그 사람은 행복게 살아요.

Wrong — 행복 is a noun; you need the predicate stem 행복하-: 행복하게.

✅ 그 사람은 행복하게 살아요.

geu sarameun haengbokage sarayo

That person lives happily.

Key Takeaways

-게 attaches to any descriptive or action verb stem to form a manner/degree adverb: 조용하게, 크게, 빠르게, 맛있게.
It is productive — it works on essentially every stem, including new loanwords (심플하게) — which makes it the safe default when you're unsure.
Before another verb, -게 is a resultative: 짧게 자르다 = "cut it so it becomes short," 깨끗하게 청소하다 = "clean it until it's spotless."
Same building block feeds the causative -게 하다 ("make/let do"). The frozen alternative, -이/-히, covers only a closed high-frequency list.

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