-리- is the causative suffix for verbs whose stem ends in ㄹ. Take the intransitive 살다 ("live") and you get 살리다 ("save, keep alive"); take 알다 ("know") and you get 알리다 ("inform, let know"); take 얼다 ("freeze over") and you get 얼리다 ("freeze something"). The ㄹ of the stem and the ㄹ of the suffix double up, giving these verbs their characteristic -lli- sound (살리다 = sallida, 알리다 = allida). This page maps the -리- set, shows how neatly it lines up with English transitive/intransitive verb pairs, and defuses the single most common -리- error: confusing 늘리다 with 늘이다.
How -리- builds a causative
Insert 리 between the ㄹ-final stem and the ending: 알 + 리 + 다 → 알리다. The doubled ㄹ is why the result sounds like al-li-da, not a-li-da.
회의 시간을 미리 알려 주세요.
hoe-ui siganeul miri allyeo juseyo
Please let everyone know the meeting time in advance.
Here 알다 ("know") becomes 알리다 ("cause to know" = inform). The thing known is the object (시간을), and the new subject is the informer. Conjugation is regular for a 리다-stem: present 알려요 (allyeoyo), past 알렸어요 (allyeosseoyo).
The -리- inventory
| Base verb (intr.) | Causative | Romanization | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 울다 (cry) | 울리다 | ullida | make cry; ring (a bell/phone) |
| 살다 (live) | 살리다 | sallida | save, keep alive, revive |
| 알다 (know) | 알리다 | allida | inform, let know |
| 놀다 (play) | 놀리다 | nollida | tease; leave idle |
| 돌다 (spin, intr.) | 돌리다 | dollida | turn/spin something |
| 얼다 (freeze over) | 얼리다 | eollida | freeze something |
| 늘다 (increase, intr.) | 늘리다 | neullida | increase something in number/amount |
그 영화가 관객을 울렸어요.
geu yeonghwaga gwan-gaegeul ullyeosseoyo
That movie brought the audience to tears.
의사가 환자를 살렸어요.
uisaga hwanjareul sallyeosseoyo
The doctor saved the patient.
남은 국은 얼려 두세요.
nameun gugeun eollyeo duseyo
Freeze the leftover soup.
손잡이를 오른쪽으로 돌리세요.
sonjabireul oreunjjogeuro dolliseyo
Turn the handle to the right.
Two verbs, two English words: the pair pattern
Here is the reframing English speakers should hold onto. For many -리- verbs, English uses two different words where Korean uses a base and its -리- causative. The intransitive base is one English verb; the causative is a different English verb — and neither is a "make" phrase.
| Korean intransitive | English | Korean causative | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 살다 | live | 살리다 | save |
| 알다 | know | 알리다 | inform |
| 얼다 | freeze (over) | 얼리다 | freeze (something) |
| 돌다 | spin (by itself) | 돌리다 | turn (something) |
English freeze is telling: it does double duty ("the lake froze" / "I froze the fish"). Korean refuses that ambiguity and splits it cleanly — 얼다 for the lake, 얼리다 for the fish. So when you mean "I froze X," you cannot use 얼다; you need the causative 얼리다. This intransitive/transitive splitting is a pervasive feature of the language — the transitive/intransitive pairs page collects the whole family.
울리다 and 놀리다: two senses each
울리다 covers both "make (someone) cry" and "make (a bell/phone) ring" — the same idea, "cause to sound/sob," applied to a person or a device.
전화벨이 계속 울렸어요.
jeonhwaberi gyesok ullyeosseoyo
The phone kept ringing.
놀리다, from 놀다 ("play"), splits into "tease / make fun of (someone)" and the more literal "leave idle, let something sit unused" (돈을 놀리다 "let money sit idle," 손을 놀리다 "leave one's hands idle").
형이 자꾸 동생을 놀려요.
hyeong-i jakku dongsaeng-eul nollyeoyo
The older brother keeps teasing his younger sibling.
The trap: 늘리다 vs 늘이다
This is the error to burn into memory. Two spelling-adjacent verbs, two different meanings, two different suffixes:
- 늘리다 (from 늘다, "increase") — increase in number, amount, or quantity: employees, time, savings, weight.
- 늘이다 (a separate verb) — physically stretch or lengthen an object: rubber, dough, a hem, a rope.
회사가 직원 수를 늘렸어요.
hoesaga jigwon sureul neullyeosseoyo
The company increased the number of employees. (quantity → 늘리다)
고무줄을 길게 늘였어요.
gomujureul gilge neuryeosseoyo
I stretched the rubber band out long. (physical length → 늘이다)
Note the different suffixes give different sounds: 늘리다 = neul-li-da (doubled ㄹ), but 늘이다 = neu-ri-da (the 이-causative, single flapped ㄹ). If you mean more of something, it's 늘리다; if you mean pulled longer, it's 늘이다. Native writers themselves slip here, so you're in good company — but the distinction is real and tested.
Why 리, and its limits
-리- is the natural choice after ㄹ because the doubled liquid is easy to articulate. But once again the suffix is lexically fixed, not phonologically forced: the ㄹ-final 줄다 takes 이 (줄이다 "reduce"), not 리, and 늘다 takes 리 (늘리다) while its look-alike 늘이다 takes 이. So even within ㄹ-final stems you must know each verb. Learn the -리- list above; consult suffix-selection for the exceptions, and see -기- for the next suffix over.
Common Mistakes
1. Using 늘이다 for quantity. More employees is a number, so 늘리다.
❌ 직원을 늘였어요.
Wrong — 늘이다 is physical stretching, not a count.
✅ 직원을 늘렸어요.
jigwoneul neullyeosseoyo
I increased the (number of) staff.
2. Using 알다 where you mean "inform." 알다 is "know"; causing someone else to know is 알리다.
❌ 결과를 빨리 알아 주세요.
gyeolgwareul ppalli ara juseyo
This says 'please know the result for me' — not 'tell me.'
✅ 결과를 빨리 알려 주세요.
gyeolgwareul ppalli allyeo juseyo
Please let me know the result soon.
3. Reaching for a 만들다 phrase instead of 울리다. "Make cry" is one verb here.
❌ 그 노래가 나를 울게 만들었어요.
geu noraega nareul ulge mandeureosseoyo
Overbuilt for the everyday idea — 울렸어요 is more natural.
✅ 그 노래가 나를 울렸어요.
geu noraega nareul ullyeosseoyo
That song made me cry.
4. Using intransitive 얼다 for "freeze something." Freezing food is transitive: 얼리다.
❌ 생선을 얼었어요.
Wrong — this says the fish froze on its own.
✅ 생선을 얼렸어요.
saengseoneul eollyeosseoyo
I froze the fish.
5. Single vs doubled ㄹ. 늘리다 = [늘리다] (double ㄹ); 늘이다 = [느리다] (single, flapped). They are not interchangeable spellings.
Key Takeaways
- -리- is the causative for ㄹ-final stems: 울리다, 살리다, 알리다, 놀리다, 돌리다, 얼리다, 늘리다 — with a doubled -lli- sound.
- Many map to a single English transitive verb distinct from the base: 살다 live → 살리다 save; 알다 know → 알리다 inform; 돌다 spin → 돌리다 turn.
- 울리다 = make cry / ring; 놀리다 = tease / leave idle.
- The classic trap: 늘리다 (increase a quantity) vs 늘이다 (physically stretch) — different verbs, different suffixes.
- ㄹ-final does not guarantee 리 (줄다 → 줄이다): the suffix is memorized per verb.
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- Morphological Causative -히-TOPIK 3 — The causative suffix -히- attaches to stems ending in ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ, or ㄺ, where -이- won't fit phonologically — 앉다 → 앉히다 'seat', 입다 → 입히다 'dress', 익다 → 익히다 'cook / master' — and it fuses with the stem consonant to produce an aspirated sound.
- Morphological Causative -기-TOPIK 3 — The causative suffix -기- attaches to stems ending in ㄴ, ㅁ, or ㅅ — 웃다 → 웃기다 'make laugh / be funny', 벗다 → 벗기다 'take off / peel', 남다 → 남기다 'leave behind', 맡다 → 맡기다 'entrust' — with 웃기다 drifting into the colloquial adjective 'hilarious'.
- Transitive/Intransitive Verb Pairs (열다/열리다, 붙다/붙이다)TOPIK 3 — Korean rarely uses one verb for both 'X happens' and 'someone does X' — instead it has paired verbs, one intransitive and one transitive, built from the same 이/히/리/기/우 machinery as causatives and passives; this is the everyday, high-frequency face of the whole voice system.
- Morphological Passive -리-TOPIK 3 — The passive suffix -리- attaches to ㄹ-final stems (and ㄷ-irregular verbs) — 열다 → 열리다 'be opened', 듣다 → 들리다 'be heard', 걸다 → 걸리다 'take time / catch a cold', 풀다 → 풀리다 'be solved / thaw' — several of which English almost never treats as passive.