Verbs in -아요/어요 and the object 을/를

The dictionary form and the polite form

Every Korean verb is listed ending in 다: 먹다 to eat, 가다 to go, 읽다 to read. Take the 다 off and you have the stem, which never changes: 먹, 가, 읽. To speak politely in the present, add 아요 if the stem's last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ, and 어요 for any other vowel: 살다 → 살아요, 좋다 → 좋아요, 먹다 → 먹어요, 읽다 → 읽어요. This one form covers I eat, you eat, she eats, we are eating – Korean marks neither person nor number, and the present is used for habits and for right now alike.

Vowels that merge, and the object particle

When the stem ends in a vowel, the ending merges with it. 가 + 아요 → 가요 (the two ㅏ become one); 오 + 아요 → 와요; 마시 + 어요 → 마셔요; 주 + 어요 → 줘요; 배우 + 어요 → 배워요; 보 + 아요 → 봐요. The thing the verb acts on takes the object particle 을/를: 을 after a consonant, 를 after a vowel – 밥을 먹어요, 커피를 마셔요, 책을 읽어요. The order is fixed: subject or topic, object, verb.

아침에 빵을 먹어요I eat bread in the morning.

동생은 물을 마셔요My younger sibling drinks water.