In short

한다체 (the plain style) is the register of writing addressed to no one in particular - newspapers, novels, academic papers, diaries, memos and headlines. Its declarative is -ㄴ다/-는다 on action verbs (간다, 먹는다) but a bare -다 on adjectives and 이다 (좋다, 학생이다), and it has its own question (-느냐/-니), command (-아/어라) and proposal (-자) endings. A related written shorthand collapses a whole clause into a noun with -(으)ㅁ (확인했음).

The rule

Step 1 - The declarative depends on the WORD CLASS, not just the 받침

This is the one thing that trips everyone. The plain declarative is not a single ending.

• Action verb -> -ㄴ다 / -는다. After a vowel stem it is -ㄴ다; after a 받침 stem it is -는다.
  • 가다 -> 간다 (ganda, goes); 마시다 -> 마신다 (masinda, drinks)
  • 먹다 -> 먹는다 (meongneunda, eats); 읽다 -> 읽는다 (ingneunda, reads)
  • ㄹ-stem drops its ㄹ before -ㄴ다: 살다 -> 산다 (sanda, lives); 만들다 -> 만든다 (mandeunda, makes)
• Adjective (descriptive verb) -> plain -다. No -ㄴ다/-는다 at all - the base form IS the plain declarative: 좋다 (jota, is good), 크다 (keuda, is big), 예쁘다 (yeppeuda, is pretty).
• 이다 and 있다/없다 -> plain -다. The copula is -(이)다: 학생 -> 학생이다 (haksaengida), vowel-final noun 의사 -> 의사다 (uisada, also written 의사이다). Existence verbs stay bare too: 있다 (itda, there is), 없다 (eopda, there isn’t).

So the plain declarative sorts every predicate into two boxes: does something (adds -ㄴ다/-는다) vs is/has a quality (bare -다).

Step 2 - Tense and future ride on the same declarative

• Past -았/었- just takes bare -다: 가다 -> 갔다 (gatda, went); 먹다 -> 먹었다 (meogeotda, ate); 하다 -> 했다 (haetda, did).
• Future is the bound-noun phrase -(으)ㄹ 것이다: 가다 -> 갈 것이다 (gal geosida, will go). Note the space before 것 and the casual contraction 갈 거다.

Step 3 - The other three sentence types

한다체 marks statement, question, command and proposal with four different endings.

• Interrogative -(느)냐? / -니? - Verbs take -느냐 (literary) or the shorter modern -냐; adjectives take -(으)냐; -니? is the softer everyday plain question. 가다 -> 가느냐? (ganeunya?) / 가니? (gani?); 먹다 -> 먹느냐? / 먹니? (meongni?); 좋다 -> 좋으냐? (joeunya?).
• Imperative -아/어라 (this is 해라체). 가다 -> 가라 (gara, go!); 먹다 -> 먹어라 (meogeora, eat!); 하다 -> 해라 (haera, do!); 앉다 -> 앉아라 (anjara, sit!).
• Propositive -자. 가다 -> 가자 (gaja, let’s go); 먹다 -> 먹자 (meokja, let’s eat); 하다 -> 하자 (haja, let’s do it).

Step 4 - -(으)ㅁ turns a clause into a noun

For memos, minutes, captions and reports you can freeze a whole predicate into a noun with the nominalizer -(으)ㅁ: -ㅁ after a vowel stem, -음 after a 받침 stem - except that a ㄹ-stem takes the bare -ㅁ and keeps its ㄹ, writing the two as a double 받침 ㄻ: 살다 -> 삶 (sam), 만들다 -> 만듦 (mandeum), never *살음. (Note the contrast with Step 1, where -ㄴ다 makes the same ㄹ drop.) It stacks on top of tense.

Verb/Adjective stem + -(으)ㅁ - 확인하다 (past) -> 확인했음 (hwaginhaesseum, confirmed); 필요하다 -> 필요함 (piryoham, is needed); 없다 -> 없음 (eopseum, none); 있다 -> 있음 (isseum, present).

The close cousin is the noun-final notice style of signs and headlines - just a bare noun, no verb at all: 참석 요망 (chamseok yomang, attendance requested), 주차 금지 (jucha geumji, no parking), 촬영 금지 (chwaryeong geumji, no photography).

Step 5 - Where it lives, and the spoken exception

한다체 belongs on the page: 신문 (newspapers), 소설 (novels), 논문 (papers), 일기 (diaries), 메모 (memos) and 헤드라인 (headlines). It is impersonal, not rude - it simply has no listener. In speech its statements mostly surface as the exclamation you blurt to yourself: 좋다! (Jota!, Great!), 배고프다! (Baegopeuda!, I’m starving!). Its -니? question, command and proposal are everyday speech to children, close friends and juniors: 어디 가니? (eodi gani?, where are you going?), 빨리 와라 (ppalli wara, come quickly), 같이 가자 (gachi gaja, let’s go together). Match the pronoun to the register: plain style pairs with 나, never the humble 저.

Forms & patterns

The plain declarative, sorted by word class:

The four sentence types (한다체):

-(으)ㅁ nominalization and the noun-final notice style:

Register comparison - read the 해요체 and 한다체 columns as a conversion drill:

Examples

Common mistakes

• 가는다. (Ganeunda.) -> 간다. (Ganda.) - A vowel-final verb stem takes -ㄴ다; -는다 is only for stems that end in a 받침.
• 좋는다. (Jonneunda.) -> 좋다. (Jota.) - Adjectives never take -ㄴ다/-는다. Their plain declarative is the bare base form. Only action verbs add -ㄴ다/-는다.
• 살는다. (Salleunda.) -> 산다. (Sanda.) - A ㄹ-stem drops its ㄹ before -ㄴ다, exactly like 만들다 -> 만든다 and 알다 -> 안다.
• 나는 간다요. (Naneun gandayo.) -> 나는 간다. (Naneun ganda.) - 한다체 never carries the polite 요. Adding 요 to a plain ending mixes two registers.
• 저는 매일 운동한다. (Jeoneun maeil undonghanda.) -> 나는 매일 운동한다. (Naneun maeil undonghanda.) - The plain style pairs with 나, not the humble 저. Pronoun and register must match.

Tips

• The declarative is your word-class test. If -ㄴ다 can go on it (간다, 먹는다), it is an action verb; if it insists on bare -다 (좋다, 학생이다, 있다), it is an adjective, the copula, or 있다/없다. This split runs through all of Korean grammar, and 한다체 makes it visible.
• Impersonal, not impolite. 한다체 reads as neutral on a page precisely because it addresses no one. Said out loud AT a person its statements sound blunt - so keep them for writing and for the self-directed exclamation (좋다!, 아프다!), and use 해요체 or 반말 when you actually speak to someone.
• -(으)ㅁ is a portable “done” stamp. 확인했음 = “(I) confirmed it”, 완료함 = “completed”. It has no listener and no politeness, which is why it is perfect for a checklist or minutes and wrong for a message to a person.
• This paradigm feeds reported speech. The plain forms 간다, 좋다, 학생이다, 가느냐, 가라, 가자 are exactly what the next lesson quotes with -고: 간다고 하다, 가냐고 하다, 가라고 하다, 가자고 하다. Learn the plain endings solidly here and lesson 59 becomes mechanical.