[Korean grammar] A-아/어지다 Expressions of State

풍선이 커졌어요.
The balloon became bigger.

언니가 날씬해졌어요.
My elder sister became thinner.

피노키오는 거짓말을 하면 코가 길어져요.
Pinocchio’s nose grows longer when he tells a lie.

Grammar Focus:
-아/어지다 expresses a change in state over time and means ‘become’ or ‘turn’ in English. If the stem ends in the vowel ㅏ or ㅗ, then -아지다 is used. Otherwise, -어지다 is used. As for verbs ending in 하다, the form changes to 해지다.

A: 회사가 멀어요? Is your company far away?
B: 옛날에는 멀었는데 이사해서 가까워졌어요.
It used to be, but since I’ve moved, it has become closer.

A: 날씨가 많이 추워요? Is the weather really cold?
B: 비가 오고나서 추워졌어요. After it rained, the weather turned cold.

A: 눈이 나빠요. 어떻게 해야 돼요?
My vision is bad. What should I do about it?
B: 당근을 많이 먹으면 눈이 좋아져요.
If you eat a lot of carrots, your vision will get better.

1. This expression is always used with adjectives and cannot be used with verbs.
• 요코 씨가 예뻐졌습니다. (〇) Yoko had become pretty.
• 요코 씨가 한국말을 잘해졌습니다. (X)
->요코 씨가 한국말을 잘하게 되었습니다. (〇)
Yoko has begun speaking Korean well.
(See “V-게 되다 Expressions of State” here)

2. The past tense form -아/어졌어요 expresses a change resulting from an action performed in the past while the present tense form -아/어져요 is used to describe a change that generally occurs when a particular action is performed.
• 아이스크림을 많이 먹어서 뚱뚱해져요. (X)
->아이스크림을 많이 먹어서 뚱뚱해졌어요. (〇)
I ate a lot of ice cream, so I have become fat.

• 아이스크림을 많이 먹으면 뚱뚱해져요. (〇)
If you eat a lot of ice cream, you will become fat.