To put an adjective in front of a noun in English, you just set it there: "a small house." Korean can't leave the adjective bare — it must be conjugated into an attributive form, because Korean adjectives are really descriptive verbs (형용사) that inflect. The present attributive for a descriptive verb is -(으)ㄴ: 작은 집 ("a small house"), 예쁜 꽃 ("a pretty flower"), 좋은 사람 ("a good person"). This is the same -(으)ㄴ shape that means past on an action verb — and that overlap is the single most important thing to understand on this page.
The rule: -은 after a consonant, -ㄴ after a vowel or ㄹ
The split matches the past-verb attributive exactly, because it's the same ending:
- Consonant stem → -은: 작다 → 작은, 좋다 → 좋은, 높다 → 높은, 많다 → 많은.
- Vowel stem → -ㄴ: 크다 → 큰, 바쁘다 → 바쁜, 예쁘다 → 예쁜.
- ㄹ-stem → -ㄴ (ㄹ drops): 길다 → 긴, 멀다 → 먼, 달다 → 단.
작은 집이지만 정말 아늑해요.
jageun jibijiman jeongmal aneukaeyo
It's a small house, but it's really cozy.
좋은 사람 만나서 정말 다행이에요.
joeun saram mannaseo jeongmal dahaeng-ieyo
I'm so relieved you met a good person.
어제는 정말 긴 하루였어요.
eojeneun jeongmal gin haruyeosseoyo
Yesterday was a really long day.
That last one shows the ㄹ-drop: 길다 ("long") → 긴, not ×길은. The 좋은 in the second is pronounced joeun — the ㅎ weakens away between vowels — and 많은 is maneun, the ㅎ of the ㄶ cluster deleting.
Why an adjective before a noun looks like a verb's past
Here is the reframing to burn into memory. The same ending -(으)ㄴ does two different jobs depending on the word's class:
| Word class | Present attributive | Past attributive |
|---|---|---|
| Action verb (동사) | -는 (먹는 "that eats") | -(으)ㄴ (먹은 "that ate") |
| Descriptive verb / adjective (형용사) | -(으)ㄴ (작은 "small") | — (uses -던 / -았던) |
So -(으)ㄴ is the present ending for adjectives but the past ending for verbs. 온 사람 ("the person who came," verb 오다, past) and 큰 사람 ("a big person," adjective 크다, present) are built identically — vowel stem + ㄴ + 사람 — yet one is past and one is present. You cannot read the tense off the shape; you must know the word's class first.
키가 큰 사람이 농구를 잘해요.
kiga keun sarami nonggureul jalhaeyo
Tall people are good at basketball. (크다 = adjective → present)
방금 온 사람이 사장님이에요.
banggeum on sarami sajangnimieyo
The person who just came in is the boss. (오다 = verb → past)
This is why the present-verb -는 and past-verb -(으)ㄴ pages keep warning you off adjectives, and why this page exists as their mirror. English never entangles the two, because it keeps adjectives ("small") completely separate from its past relative clauses ("who came").
There's a deeper reason the ending has to be there at all. Because a Korean adjective is a verb, it can already stand as a complete predicate — 집이 작아요 ("the house is small"), with the descriptive verb 작다 ending the sentence. To reuse that same word to modify a noun instead of ending a clause, it must be re-inflected into the attributive: 작은 집. So -(으)ㄴ isn't decoration on top of an adjective; it is the adjective's attributive conjugation, the shape it wears for the modifying job — exactly parallel to how a verb takes -는 or -(으)ㄴ for the same job.
The irregular stems: this is where accuracy is won
Many of Korean's most common adjectives have irregular stems, and their attributives are exactly where beginners fossilize errors. There is no shortcut — you have to know the irregular class.
ㅂ-irregular: ㅂ → 우
A large, high-frequency group — 춥다 (cold), 덥다 (hot), 맵다 (spicy), 쉽다 (easy), 어렵다 (hard), 무겁다 (heavy), 가볍다 (light), 아름답다 (beautiful) — turns its final ㅂ into 우 before a vowel ending. So the attributive is 추운, 매운, 쉬운, 어려운 — never ×춥은, ×맵은. (See the ㅂ-irregular for the full paradigm.)
오늘은 정말 추운 날씨네요.
oneureun jeongmal chuun nalssineyo
Today's really cold weather, isn't it.
매운 음식 잘 드세요?
maeun eumsik jal deuseyo
Do you handle spicy food well?
ㅎ-irregular: the color and 어떻다 group
Color adjectives and a few pointers — 빨갛다 (red), 파랗다 (blue), 노랗다 (yellow), 하얗다 (white), 어떻다 (how/what kind), 그렇다 (like that) — drop their final ㅎ and fuse the vowel, giving attributives like 빨간, 파란, 노란, 하얀, 어떤, 그런. Not ×빨갛은, not ×어떻은.
저기 빨간 지붕 집이 저희 집이에요.
jeogi ppalgan jibung jibi jeohui jibieyo
The house with the red roof over there is ours.
어떤 색을 제일 좋아하세요?
eotteon saegeul jeil joahaseyo
What color do you like best?
Regular ㅎ hada-adjectives
Don't over-apply the irregular, though: the enormous class of 하다-adjectives is perfectly regular — 조용하다 → 조용한, 편하다 → 편한, 따뜻하다 → 따뜻한, 달콤하다 → 달콤한. They just add -ㄴ to the 하 vowel.
조용한 카페를 찾고 있어요.
joyonghan kapereul chatgo isseoyo
I'm looking for a quiet café.
따뜻한 커피 한 잔 주세요.
ttatteutan keopi han jan juseyo
One warm coffee, please.
The 있다-exception: 맛있는, not ×맛있은
One trap that spans both this page and the verb -는 page: the 있다-family adjectives — 맛있다 (tasty), 재미있다 (fun), 멋있다 (cool), and bare 있다/없다 — take -는, not -(으)ㄴ, because they inflect like verbs. So it's 맛있는 음식, 재미있는 영화, never ×맛있은, ×재미있은. Learn these as memorized exceptions to the "adjective → -(으)ㄴ" default.
달콤한 디저트랑 맛있는 커피, 완벽해요.
dalkomhan dijeoteurang masinneun keopi, wanbyeokaeyo
A sweet dessert and delicious coffee — perfect.
Notice both in one phrase: 달콤한 (regular hada-adjective → -ㄴ) but 맛있는 (있다-compound → -는). The full paradigm and every irregular class live in the Adjectives group; this page is the attributive slice.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1 — Attaching -는 to an adjective. Descriptive verbs take -(으)ㄴ for the present, not -는.
❌ 좋는 사람을 만나고 싶어요.
Wrong — 좋다 is an adjective; its present attributive is 좋은, not 좋는.
✅ 좋은 사람을 만나고 싶어요.
joeun sarameul mannago sipeoyo
I want to meet a good person.
Mistake 2 — Ignoring the ㅂ-irregular. ㅂ turns to 우 before the ending.
❌ 오늘은 춥은 날씨예요.
Wrong — 춥다 is a ㅂ-irregular; the attributive is 추운, not 춥은.
✅ 오늘은 추운 날씨예요.
oneureun chuun nalssiyeyo
Today's cold weather.
Mistake 3 — Forgetting the ㄹ-drop. A ㄹ-stem loses its ㄹ before -ㄴ.
❌ 길은 머리가 잘 어울려요.
Wrong — 길다 drops its ㄹ before -ㄴ → 긴, not 길은.
✅ 긴 머리가 잘 어울려요.
gin meoriga jal eoullyeoyo
Long hair suits you well.
Mistake 4 — Treating a ㅎ-irregular as regular. Color words drop ㅎ and fuse.
❌ 빨갛은 사과를 골랐어요.
Wrong — 빨갛다 is a ㅎ-irregular; the attributive is 빨간, not 빨갛은.
✅ 빨간 사과를 골랐어요.
ppalgan sagwareul gollasseoyo
I picked a red apple.
Mistake 5 — Putting -은 on the 있다-family. 맛있다, 재미있다 side with verbs and take -는.
❌ 재미있은 영화 없어요?
Wrong — 재미있다 takes -는 → 재미있는, not 재미있은.
✅ 재미있는 영화 없어요?
jaemiinneun yeonghwa eopseoyo
Are there any fun movies?
Key Takeaways
- Adjective present attributive = -(으)ㄴ: consonant stem → -은 (작은, 좋은), vowel/ㅡ/ㄹ stem → -ㄴ (큰, 예쁜, 긴 with ㄹ dropping).
- The same -(으)ㄴ is present on an adjective (큰 사람 "big") but past on a verb (온 사람 "who came") — read the word's class before the tense.
- Irregulars matter: ㅂ → 우 (추운, 매운), ㅎ-irregular drops and fuses (빨간, 어떤), while 하다-adjectives are regular (조용한, 따뜻한).
- 있다-family exception: 맛있다/재미있다/멋있다 and 있다/없다 take -는 (맛있는), not -(으)ㄴ.
- Adjectives have no plain past attributive of their own; for a remembered past state they use -던 / -았던 (예뻤던 사람).
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Start learning Korean→Related Topics
- Present Verb Relative Clauses: -는TOPIK 2 — The present attributive -는 turns any action verb into a modifier that sits in front of a noun (먹는 사람 'a person who eats') — covering both English simple present and progressive, dropping ㄹ before it, and reserved strictly for verbs, never adjectives.
- Past Verb Relative Clauses: -(으)ㄴTOPIK 2 — The past attributive -(으)ㄴ turns a verb into a modifier for a completed action (간 사람 'the person who went', 먹은 밥 'the rice I ate') — and the same shape that means PAST on a verb means PRESENT on an adjective, so you must read the word's class first.
- Adjective Attributive -(으)ㄴ: 좋은, 예쁜, 큰TOPIK 1 — How a Korean adjective dresses to modify a noun — attach the present attributive -(으)ㄴ (-은 after a batchim, -ㄴ after a vowel): 좋은 사람, 큰 집. The modifier goes BEFORE the noun with no 'who/that', and the everyday error is leaving the adjective in its 좋다/좋아요 form.
- Irregular Attributives: 매운, 긴, 하얀TOPIK 2 — How irregular-stem adjectives build the attributive -(으)ㄴ — 맵다 → 매운, 길다 → 긴, 하얗다 → 하얀 — and why the stem morphs before the ending instead of taking a blunt -은.
- The ㅂ Irregular: 덥다 → 더워요TOPIK 1 — How stem-final ㅂ softens to 우 and fuses with the ending — the class that covers almost every weather and sensation adjective — plus the rule that the ending vowel here is ALWAYS 어 → 워, never 와.