How to Say "The fox stays home because a friend came" in Korean | -아/어요 Grammar

Quick Answer: "The fox stays home because a friend came" in Korean is "여우는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요." (yeouneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo.). It uses the -아/어요 grammar pattern (Polite Ending (-아/어요)). Level: A1.

Struggling with how to say "The fox stays home because a friend came" in Korean? Here is the natural way: "여우는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요.". We will unpack the -아/어요 grammar and show you exactly how it works.

Category: 감정

What does "The fox stays home because a friend came" mean in Korean?

The Korean sentence "여우는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요." translates to "The fox stays home because a friend came." in English. "여우는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요." might look complex at first, but it follows a predictable pattern. It says "the fox stays home because a friend came" by placing the key action at the very end — a hallmark of Korean grammar.

Pronunciation guide: yeouneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo.

Grammar Point: Polite Ending (-아/어요)

The -아/어요 ending is the standard polite speech level in Korean. Use -아요 after bright vowels (ㅏ, ㅗ), -어요 after dark vowels, and 해요 for 하다 verbs.

가다 → 가요, 먹다 → 먹어요, 하다 → 해요. This is the most common speech level in daily Korean.

Korean Sentence Structure Breakdown

Korean follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, which is different from English (SVO). In "여우는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요.", the verb comes at the end of the sentence. Here is the word-by-word breakdown: • 여우는 (yeouneun) • 친구가 (chinguga) • 와서 (waseo) • 집에 (jipe) • 있어요 (iteoyo)

In Korean, the verb ending tells you everything: who is speaking, how polite they are, and what tense they mean. Pay close attention to the last syllable.

Why This Korean Expression Sounds Natural

Korean speakers would find this sentence instantly comprehensible because it uses high-frequency vocabulary combined with a standard sentence pattern — the bread and butter of Korean communication.

Cultural Insight

한국 설화에서 까치는 길조의 새로, 좋은 소식을 전해준다고 믿었어요. '까치가 울면 반가운 손님이 온다'는 속담이 있습니다.

Examples

여우는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요. — yeouneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo. — The fox stays home because a friend came.

여우는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요? — yeouneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo? — Does the fox stays home because a friend came?

주말에 여우는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요. — jumale yeouneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo. — On weekends, the fox stays home because a friend came.

Common Mistakes

Incorrect: 먹아요 → Correct: 먹어요. The stem 먹- ends in a dark vowel (ㅓ), so it takes -어요 not -아요. Match the vowel harmony.

Incorrect: 있어요 여우는 친구가 와서 집에 → Correct: 여우는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요. Korean uses Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order. The verb must come at the end of the sentence, unlike English where it comes after the subject.

Quiz

How do you say "The fox stays home because a friend came" in Korean?

The correct Korean translation is "여우는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요.". yeouneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo.

Fill in the blank: 여우는 친구가 와서 집에 ___

The correct ending is "있어요". The polite -요 form is essential for everyday Korean conversation.