V + 아/어 보세요 [Korean Grammar] 

Let’s learn how to use Korean grammar “V+아/어 보세요” and make sentences with some examples.

USE:

V+아/어 보세요 Korean grammar pattern is used to ask someone to try something the same as “try doing this”.

CONJUGATION RULE:

아/어 보세요 grammar is used with verbs. The first step of ‘아/어 보세요’ conjugation is to remove ‘다’ from the base form of the verb.

• If the verb stem ends with the vowel ‘ㅏ’ or ‘ㅗ’, ‘아 보세요’ is used. 
• If the verb stem ends with any other vowel, then ‘어 보세요’ is used. 
• When the verb ends with 하, the form changes to ‘해 보세요’. 

So let’s take a verb 먹다(to eat). if you remove 다 from 먹다, 먹 (stem) is left. And then, look at the last vowel. So in the 먹, the last vowel is 어.

According to the conjugation rule, if the last vowel of stem is 어, we add 어 보세요.

so it becomes 먹어 보세요.

EXAMPLE SENTENCES:

한번만 이 책 읽어 보세요. (Read this book once).이런 음식 한국에서 못 먹었죠? 한번 먹어보세요? (You can’t eat this kind of food in Korea, right? Try it once)이거는 새 CD예요, 한번 들어 보세요. (This is a new CD. Try listening to it once).한번만 이 책 읽어 보세요. (Read this book once).아직도 머리가 아파요? 그럼 이 약을 먹어 보세요. (do you still have a headache? Then, try this medicine).

Tip: If you want to suggest someone to try something once, you can add 한번 (once) before V + 보세요.

EXCEPTIONAL CASES:

There are some exceptional cases as well:

1. 듣다 = 들어 보세요 (ㄷ irregular conjugation)
2. 자르다 = 잘라 보세요 (ㄹ irregular)
3. 짓다 = 지어 보세요 (ㅅ irregular)
4.  쓰다 = 써 보세요 (으 disappears)