Consumption: To eat, To drink, To buy

🎯 Big Picture

📖 Core Vocabulary Family

1. 먹다 (to eat)

• 저는 아침에 빵을 먹어요. (I eat bread in the morning.)

• 어제 친구와 같이 점심을 먹었어요. (I ate lunch with a friend yesterday.)

2. 마시다 (to drink)

• 저는 매일 아침에 커피를 마셔요. (I drink coffee every morning.)

• 물을 많이 마시는 게 좋아요. (It's good to drink a lot of water.)

3. 사다 (to buy)

• 저는 시장에서 과일을 사요. (I buy fruit at the market.)

• 어제 새 신발을 샀어요. (I bought new shoes yesterday.)

4. 팔다 (to sell)

• 이 가게는 옷을 팔아요. (This store sells clothes.)

• 그분은 시장에서 채소를 파세요. (That person sells vegetables at the market.)

5. 시키다 (to order / to make someone do something)

• 치킨을 시켜서 먹었어요. (We ordered chicken and ate it.)

• 엄마가 동생에게 청소를 시켰어요. (Mom made my younger sibling clean.)

🗣️ How They Work in a Sentence

1. 배가 고파서 음식을 시켜서 먹었어요. (I was hungry, so I ordered food and ate it.)

2. 이 카페는 커피를 팔지만, 저는 차를 마시는 걸 더 좋아해요. (This cafe sells coffee, but I prefer to drink tea.)

3. 시장에서 과일을 사고 싶었는데, 다 팔려서 못 샀어요. (I wanted to buy fruit at the market, but it was all sold out so I couldn't buy any.)

🧱 General Formation Rule

• 먹다: regular consonant-final verb — stem + 어요 → 먹어요.

• 마시다 / 시키다: ㅣ + 어 → 여, so 마셔요 / 시켜요.

• 사다: ㅏ-ending verb — stem + 아요 merges into 사요.

• 팔다 is ㄹ-irregular: 팔아요 (normal with -아요), but ㄹ drops before ㄴ/ㅂ/ㅅ/(으)시 → 팝니다, 파세요, 파는.

• The thing eaten/drunk/bought/sold/ordered takes 을/를: 빵을 먹다, 커피를 마시다, 과일을 사다, 옷을 팔다, 음식을 시키다.

🔁 Synonym Alert

• 먹다 vs 드시다 — 먹다 is the casual, everyday word for "to eat," while 드시다 is the honorific form used when talking about elders or people you respect (할머니가 식사를 드세요 = Grandmother is eating).

• 사다 vs 시키다 — in a restaurant or delivery context, 사다 generally means to buy and take something away, while 시키다 specifically means to order food (often to be delivered or brought to your table) — 음식을 시키다 is the natural way to say "to order food."

⚠️ Pitfalls to Dodge

1. Don't say 팔습니다 or 팔세요 — the ㄹ drops before ㅂ/시: the correct forms are 팝니다 and 파세요.

2. Don't say 마시어요 or 시키어요 — ㅣ + 어 contracts to 여, so the correct forms are 마셔요 and 시켜요.

3. When speaking politely about someone eating (especially elders), use 드시다/드세요 instead of 먹다/먹어요.

4. Don't confuse 사다 (to buy) with 살다 (to live) — they look similar but have very different meanings.

5. 시키다 has two distinct meanings — "to order food" and "to make someone do something" — context will usually make it clear which one is meant.

Exercise 1 — Word Recall: Korean → English 🇰🇷➡️🇬🇧

Exercise 2 — Word Recall: English → Korean 🇬🇧➡️🇰🇷

Exercise 3 — Conjugation Practice 🔧

Exercise 4 — Sentence Translation: English → Korean ✍️

Exercise 5 — Mixed Review: Matching 🔀