Advanced · Korean Grammar
Causative verbs in Korean: -게 하다, word forms and who does the action
Compare an action with causing it, distinguish 먹이다 and 입히다 from a general -게 하다 pattern, and interpret force, permission and negation from context.
Add the cause without losing the person who acts
“The students read a passage” and “The teacher had the students read a passage” describe related situations, but the second adds someone who brings the activity about. Korean causative expressions let you make that relationship explicit.
This guide to causative verbs in Korean focuses on -게 하다 and two useful causative word forms, 먹이다 and 입히다. You will identify the person causing an action, the person doing it, and the thing affected. Then you will read a short account and decide what its wording does and does not establish.
The grammar builds on familiar verb stems and particles. The advanced work is in interpretation: “made,” “had” and “let” can imply different degrees of control in English, while a Korean sentence may need more context before you can choose among them. The passive-expression lesson provides a useful comparison, but passive and causative are different jobs.
Track three roles in one example
| Perspective | Korean | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Describe the action | 학생들이 짧은 글을 읽었어요. | The students read a short passage. |
| Add the causer | 선생님이 학생들에게 짧은 글을 읽게 했어요. | The teacher had the students read a short passage. |
Do not translate the second sentence as “The teacher read a passage to the students.” That changes who actually reads. In the model, 학생들에게 identifies the people carrying out the reading, while 짧은 글을 identifies the object of 읽다.
The actor in a -게 하다 construction can be marked in more than one way across different sentence patterns. You will also encounter sentences such as 선생님이 학생들이 쉬게 했어요. — “The teacher let/had the students rest.” Learn to identify the roles from the whole structure rather than imposing one particle rule on every causative sentence.
For your first production task, keep the model stable: replace 선생님, 학생들 and 짧은 글 with appropriate people and an object of reading. Change the vocabulary before trying every possible particle arrangement.
Attach -게 to the stem and conjugate 하다
| Base expression | Causative pattern | Past polite example |
|---|---|---|
| 읽다 — read | 읽게 하다 | 읽게 했어요. |
| 쉬다 — rest | 쉬게 하다 | 쉬게 했어요. |
| 기다리다 — wait | 기다리게 하다 | 기다리게 했어요. |
| 기쁘다 — be happy | 기쁘게 하다 | 기쁘게 했어요. |
Remove the dictionary ending 다, add 게, and write 하다 as the following word. Conjugate that 하다 for the ending you need: 하다 → 해요 or 했어요. For the model sentence, 읽다 → 읽게 하다 → 읽게 했어요.
The pattern can describe causing a state as well as causing someone to perform an action. 그 소식이 저를 기쁘게 했어요. means “The news made me happy.” The cause here is news, not a person issuing an instruction.
Use these examples as a productive pattern, but still check the meaning of a completed sentence. A mechanical transformation does not guarantee that the sentence fits your intended situation. Also keep the space in 읽게 했어요; it is not written as one newly invented dictionary word.
Choose make, have or let from the context
| Context supplied by the surrounding story | Korean | A fitting English rendering |
|---|---|---|
| Someone wanted a break and received permission. | 잠깐 쉬게 했어요. | I let them rest for a moment. |
| An organiser assigned a reading activity. | 참가자들에게 짧은 글을 읽게 했어요. | I had the participants read a short passage. |
| The account explicitly says someone was compelled. | 억지로 다시 쓰게 했어요. | I forced them to write it again. |
The word 억지로 supplies the forceful meaning in the last example. Without that word or supporting context, -게 하다 alone should not automatically be translated as “forced.” Equally, do not assume every -게 하다 sentence grants a welcome choice.
If you are summarising an account, preserve its level of detail. “The organiser had the participants read” can report an arranged activity without inventing a threat or a favour. When the original clearly describes permission, “let” may be the more accurate choice.
Politeness and causation are separate questions. Adding 요 makes an utterance appropriate to a certain speech level; it does not tell you whether the underlying action was considerate or coercive. The situation and the rest of the sentence still matter.
Learn causative word forms as vocabulary
| Base word | Causative word | Original example |
|---|---|---|
| 먹다 — eat | 먹이다 — feed | 아버지가 아기에게 죽을 먹였어요. — The father fed the baby porridge. |
| 입다 — wear / put on clothes | 입히다 — dress someone | 언니가 아이에게 외투를 입혔어요. — The older sister dressed the child in a coat. |
These words contain causative suffixes: 먹이다 has -이-, and 입히다 has -히-. Their ordinary past polite forms are 먹였어요 and 입혔어요. Learn the full word and its uses rather than memorising a suffix and attaching it freely to every verb.
A short causative word and a -게 하다 expression are not always interchangeable in every nuance. 입히다 can describe someone putting clothes on another person, while 입게 하다 can describe having the person put clothes on. The exact degree of direct involvement still depends on the context; word length is not a complete test of who moved whose hands.
There is no universal rule that selects a causative suffix for every verb. The National Institute of Korean Language notes, for example, that 뜨다 in the sense of opening one’s eyes has no corresponding short causative verb to use in place of 뜨게 하다. Do not invent a form just to fill a neat table.
You will also see 시키다, “have someone do” or “assign,” in suitable combinations. In 발표를 시켰어요., the speaker had someone give a presentation. This is a useful expression, not an instruction to replace every 하다 with 시키다.
Ask which action the negative applies to
| Korean | What is negated | A careful interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 결말을 말하지 않게 했어요. | 말하다, telling the ending | I arranged for them not to reveal the ending. |
| 결말을 말하게 하지 않았어요. | 하게 하다, causing the telling | I did not have them reveal the ending. |
The first presents an effort or arrangement directed at not telling. The second denies having someone tell. Depending on the context, the second can also be understood as not allowing the telling; it does not by itself settle every detail of what the person ultimately did.
If an English summary must establish that nobody revealed the ending, look for a statement about that outcome. A sentence about what the organiser did or did not require is not automatically a full report of every participant’s later behaviour.
A similar role check helps with passive expressions. 문이 열렸어요. focuses on the door opening. 직원이 손님에게 문을 열게 했어요. says the staff member had the guest open the door. The guest is the opener in the second sentence. A suffix that appears in a Korean word is not enough, by itself, to classify every use of that word as passive or causative.
Read a short account of a reading group
This is an original fictional account of a small reading group. Follow what the organiser arranged, what participants chose, and which reactions are actually reported.
작은 독서 모임에서 진행자가 참가자들에게 짧은 글을 읽게 했다.
참가자들은 읽을 글을 직접 골랐다.
진행자는 각자 고른 이유를 말하게 했지만, 발표를 원하지 않는 사람에게는 발표를 시키지 않았다.
아직 읽지 않은 결말은 말하지 않게 했다.
한 참가자의 설명이 다른 사람들을 궁금하게 했다.
모임이 끝난 뒤 몇 사람은 책을 더 빌려 가기로 했다.
Read an English translation
At a small reading group, the organiser had the participants read short passages. The participants chose the passages themselves. The organiser had them explain why they had chosen their passages, but did not assign a presentation to anyone who did not want to present. The organiser arranged for endings that had not yet been read to remain unmentioned. One participant’s explanation made the others curious. After the meeting, several people decided to borrow more books to take away.
Sentence 1: the organiser arranges the activity, and the participants read. The sentence does not mean that the organiser reads aloud to them.
Sentences 2–3: the passage explicitly describes choice over the reading material and an exception for people who do not want to present. That context matters more than assigning the English word “force” to every occurrence of -게 하다.
Sentence 4: 말하지 않게 했다 concerns preventing disclosure of the ending. It reports the organiser’s arrangement; it is not a detailed transcript proving that every person complied.
Sentences 5–6: an explanation causes curiosity, and some people decide to borrow more books. Neither sentence measures reading improvement or establishes that everyone enjoyed the meeting. 몇 사람 is a limited group, and -기로 했다 reports a decision.
Keep the roles and the evidence clear
- In 선생님이 학생들에게 짧은 글을 읽게 했어요, who reads and who brings the activity about?
- Build the past polite causative pattern from 기다리다.
- Does -게 하다 always mean “force”? Which extra word makes force explicit in 억지로 다시 쓰게 했어요?
- Give the causative word related to 먹다 and its past polite form used here.
- Can you attach -이- to every verb to make a valid causative word?
- Compare 결말을 말하지 않게 했어요 and 결말을 말하게 하지 않았어요. Which directs the arrangement toward not telling?
- In the reading, what specific information prevents you from assuming that every participant was forced to present?
- Does the last sentence prove that everyone borrowed a book or improved their reading? Explain its limits.
Check the answers and explanations
- The students read. The teacher brings about or arranges their reading. Translating it as the teacher reading to them reverses the key action role.
- 기다리게 했어요. Add 게 to 기다리-, then conjugate 하다 as 했어요.
- No. Context can support “make,” “have” or “let.” 억지로 explicitly adds compulsion in this example.
- 먹이다 → 먹였어요. Learn the complete word and its meaning, not only the suffix.
- No. Causative word forms are not generated by one freely applicable suffix rule. Check the actual word; a -게 하다 expression may be needed.
- 결말을 말하지 않게 했어요 directs the arrangement toward not telling. The second negates having someone tell and needs context for the full interpretation.
- The text says 발표를 원하지 않는 사람에게는 발표를 시키지 않았다: people who did not want to present were not assigned a presentation.
- No. 몇 사람 means several people, and 빌려 가기로 했다 reports a decision to borrow. It does not establish universal participation, completed borrowing or measured improvement.
A small listening check
Pronunciation help: Keep listening for the verb after 읽-
읽게 했어요 and 읽어 줬어요 assign the reading action differently. Do not decide who reads from the opening nouns alone; listen through the full predicate.
Listen and choose
Play the sound, then select the Korean you heard. The answer buttons unlock after playback. This is one short practice item, not a pronunciation assessment.
Listen before choosing.
References and a short editing task
- National Institute of Korean Language: defining causative expressions — Explains short causative words and the longer -게 하다 construction.
- National Institute of Korean Language: the causative of opening one’s eyes — A concrete reason not to invent a short causative form for every verb.
- Basic Korean Dictionary: 먹이다 — The feeding sense used in this lesson.
- Basic Korean Dictionary: 입히다 — The clothing sense and its forms.
- How to Study Korean: -게 하다 — Further examples of make/let interpretations; use context to choose an English rendering.
Reviewed September 3, 2026. Found a mistake? Send a correction.
Write two sentences about an invented organiser and a participant. First describe what the participant does. Then add what the organiser causes or arranges. Underline the actor in both versions. For a final editing pass, check that your English translation keeps the same people doing the same actions.