Korean Causative and Passive Verbs: 먹이다 vs 먹히다
Written and reviewed by Jun and Jin, native Korean speakers
Published · How we write & review
After this page, you can tell causative (make/let someone do) and passive (be done to) verb forms apart and use the common pairs correctly.
10-second answer
The short answer
Korean makes two new verbs out of one base verb with a single inserted syllable. Causative (사동, sadong) means making or letting someone do the action: 먹다 (meokda, eat) → 먹이다 (meogida, feed). Passive (피동, pidong) means the action is done to the subject: 먹다 → 먹히다 (meokida, be eaten). The suffixes are the same family — -이-, -히-, -리-, -기- (-i-, -hi-, -ri-, -gi-), plus -우-, -구-, -추- (-u-, -gu-, -chu-) for causatives only.
Quick check — did that land?
1. Which sentence means "I fed the cat"?
먹이다 and 먹히다 look almost identical.
The Most Common Pairs
| Base verb | Causative (make/let) | Passive (be …ed) |
|---|---|---|
| 먹다 eat | 먹이다 feed | 먹히다 be eaten |
| 보다 see | 보이다 show | 보이다 be seen / be visible |
| 읽다 read | 읽히다 make read | 읽히다 be read |
| 잡다 catch, hold | 잡히다 (rare) / 잡게 하다 | 잡히다 be caught |
| 입다 wear | 입히다 dress (someone) | — |
| 앉다 sit | 앉히다 seat (someone) | — |
| 죽다 die | 죽이다 kill | — |
| 울다 cry | 울리다 make cry | — |
| 웃다 laugh | 웃기다 make laugh, be funny | — |
| 듣다 hear | 들리다 (see passive) | 들리다 be heard, be audible |
| 열다 open | — | 열리다 be opened, open (by itself) |
| 쓰다 write | — | 쓰이다 be written, be used |
Same form, two meanings
보이다, 읽히다, 들리다 serve as both causative and passive — context decides. 사진을 보이다 = show a photo (causative); 산이 보이다 = the mountain is visible (passive). Don't panic: the passive reading is far more common in daily speech.
See also: Korean 하다 Verbs
Quick Examples
아기한테 밥을 먹였어요.
agihante babeul meogyeosseoyo.
I fed the baby.
먹이다 — causative. The one doing the eating (아기) takes 한테/에게; what gets eaten takes 을/를.
물고기가 큰 물고기한테 먹혔어요.
mulgogiga keun mulgogihante meokyeosseoyo.
The fish was eaten by a bigger fish.
먹히다 — passive. The doer of a passive sentence takes 한테/에게 (people, animals) or 에 (things, causes).
여기서 바다가 보여요.
yeogiseo badaga boyeoyo.
You can see the sea from here. (The sea is visible.)
보이다 as passive — one of the most-used verbs in Korean. Learners often over-use 볼 수 있어요 where a native would say 보여요.
그 노래가 저를 울렸어요.
geu noraega jeoreul ullyeosseoyo.
That song made me cry.
울리다 — causative of 울다. Also the everyday word for a phone or alarm ringing (전화가 울리다).
문이 저절로 열렸어요.
muni jeojeollo yeollyeosseoyo.
The door opened by itself.
열리다 — passive of 열다. Korean uses passives for things that 'happen' without an obvious agent.
When There's No Suffix Form: -게 하다 and -아/어지다
Most verbs simply don't have a suffix causative or passive. Then Korean falls back on two regular patterns that work with any verb. Causative: verb stem + -게 하다 ("make/let someone do") — 공부하게 했어요 = made (someone) study; 가게 해 주세요 = please let me go. Passive: verb stem + -아/어지다 ("become …ed") — 만들어졌어요 = was made; 알려졌어요 = became known. These are longer but always safe, and -아/어지다 is also how adjectives express change (좋아지다 = get better) — see 하다 verbs for how 하다 compounds fit in.
Rule of thumb for choosing: if a suffix form exists and is common (먹이다, 보이다, 잡히다, 열리다), natives will use it and -게 하다 / -아지다 will sound roundabout. If you're not sure a suffix form exists, the regular pattern is never wrong.
Common Mistakes
Mistake #1 — Confusing 먹이다 and 먹히다
-이- feeds (causative), -히- gets eaten (passive). The English 'i' in 먹이다 → 'I make it eat' is a memory hook many learners use.
Mistake #2 — Inventing suffix forms that don't exist
There is no 가이다 or 공부히다. If you haven't seen the form, use -게 하다 / -아지다 instead.
Mistake #3 — Wrong particle on the 'doer' of a passive
The agent in a passive sentence takes 한테/에게 (living things) or 에 (causes, things): 개한테 물렸어요 (was bitten by a dog), 비에 젖었어요 (got wet from the rain).
Mini Quiz
2. What does 산이 보여요 mean?
3. There's no suffix causative for 공부하다. How do you say "made me study"?
Related Knowledge
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Next piece of advanced grammar — the 'because' connectors natives choose between when explaining why something went wrong.
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