sajeoneul chajabwayo.

I look it up in the dictionary.

Breakdown of sajeoneul chajabwayo.

• ~을: object particle
• 찾아보다: to look up
• 사전: the dictionary

Questions & Answers about sajeoneul chajabwayo.

Why is it 사전을 and not 사전이?

Because 사전 is the object of the verb “to look up,” so you attach the object particle -을/를. Since 사전 ends in a consonant, you use -을, making 사전+을 → 사전을. If it were the subject, you’d use the subject particle -이, giving 사전이.

What is the dictionary form of 찾아봐요?

The base verb is the compound 찾아보다 (찾다 “to search” + 보다 “to try/look”). To recover the dictionary form from 찾아봐요, remove the polite ending -아요 and add -다, yielding 찾아보다.

Why do we say 찾아봐요 instead of simply 찾아요 or 봐요?

찾아보다 is a two-part verb:

• 찾다 gives the main meaning “search/seek.”
• 보다 adds the nuance “try/look.”
  When conjugating, only the final verb (보다) takes the tense and politeness ending. So you keep 찾아 as-is and conjugate 보다 → 봐요, forming 찾아봐요.

Why does 보아요 become 봐요?

In Korean vowel contraction, ㅗ + 아 merges into ㅘ. So 보아요 contracts to 봐요 (ㅗ+ㅏ=ㅘ).

What extra nuance does adding 보다 give to 찾다?

When attached to another verb, 보다 often means “to try to” or “to check/consult.” In 찾아보다, it shifts “search” toward “consult/look up” (e.g. looking up a word in a dictionary) rather than just physically locating something.

There’s no subject like 저 or 그 in 사전을 찾아봐요. Why?

Korean often omits subjects when they’re obvious from context. Here, the speaker (“I”) is implied, so it’s perfectly natural to say simply 사전을 찾아봐요 without 저는.

How would you change 사전을 찾아봐요 into past tense?

Change the present ending -아요 to the past -았어요. Since the stem is 봐, past becomes 봤어요, giving 사전을 찾아봤어요 (“(I) looked up the dictionary”).

How do I make the sentence more formal using the –ㅂ니다 style?

Replace -요 with -습니다 on the final verb. You take the uninflected stem 찾아보 and add -습니다, yielding 찾아봅니다. The full sentence is 사전을 찾아봅니다.