Learn Korean: Verb + 죠

Let’s take a look at the Korean sentence pattern Verb + 죠. We use this to make the so-called tag questions in English. This is super easy because we don’t have to pay attention to whether the statement is in affirmative or negative case. In English, the tag question depends on it. For example, we say You like me, don’t you? The verb like is positive and the tag question is negative. In Korean, there is no such thing. All we have to do is take the verb stem and attach 죠 in polite speech and 지 in casual speech. The main verb of the sample sentence above is 좋아하다 (to like). Its verb stem is 좋아하. The actual sentence is 저(를) 좋아하죠? or 나(를) 좋아하지? In past tense, we attach 죠/지 to the 았/었/였 form of the verb. The past tense form of 좋아하다 is 좋아했다. Hence, You liked me, didn’t you? in Korean is 저(를) 좋아했죠? or 나를 좋아했(지)?

돈 없지?

You don’t have money, do you?

그 사람 알죠?

You know her, don’t you?

준호 소식 들었지?

You heard of the news about Junho, didn’t you?