아프다
apeuda[a̠pʰɯda̠]
To say hurt in Korean, meaning to be in pain, use 아프다 (apeuda).
아프다 is the standard way to say that something hurts or that you feel pain. 마음이 아프다, literally the heart hurts, expresses emotional pain or sadness.
Meaning: to cause physical pain and/or injury (verb)
Which one should you use?
To say you got hurt or injured, say 상처를 입었습니다 formally or 상처를 입었어 casually. 상처를 받았어요 and the casual 상처받았어 also mean I got hurt.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The polite form is 아파요, and the casual form is 아파, which also works on its own to mean it hurts.
How do you pronounce it?
It is written in Latin letters as apeuda.
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often look for a verb meaning to cause pain. In Korean, 아프다 simply describes being in pain, so the body part that hurts is the subject.
Did you know?
- In Korean, the word for 'hurt' is grammatically an adjective, not a verb. This is why you describe the body part as being in a state of pain rather than performing an action.
- To describe a psychological blow or a wounded ego, Koreans often use the word 상처, which literally means a physical wound or a scar.
- The Middle Korean ancestor of 아프다 was 알ᄑᆞ다, which was first recorded in the 1447 text Seokbo sangjeol.
Examples in context
- 다리가 아직도 아픈가요? 좋아지기 시작했어요.Does your leg still hurt? It is starting to feel better.아픈가요 politely asks whether the leg still hurts.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry 아프다, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 아프다, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.
