자다

First attested in the Yongbi eocheon'ga (龍飛御天歌 / 용비어천가), 1447, as Middle Korean 자다〮 (Yale: cà-tá). Perhaps related to 졸다 (jolda, “to doze; to be sleepy”).

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자다 • (jada) (infinitive 자, sequential 자니)

1. (intransitive or transitive) to sleep

   Synonym: 잠자다 (jamjada)

   개는 잠을 자고 있습니다.

   Gae-neun jam-eul jago itseumnida.

   The dog is sleeping.

   보통 사람들은 밤에 자고 아침에 일어나지만 밤에 활동하고 아침에 자는 사람들도 있다.

   Botong saram-deur-eun bam-e jago achim-e ireonajiman bam-e hwaldonghago achim-e janeun saram-deul-do itda.

   Ordinary people sleep at night and wake up in the morning, but there are also people who are active at night and sleep in the morning.

2. (intransitive, euphemistic) to sleep (with)

   너 걔랑 잤어? (casual speech)

   Neo gyae-rang jasseo?

   Did you sleep with him/her?

자다 (jada) has two forms for the 해라체 (haerache, “plain”) imperative. The blunt form is regular: 자라 (jara, “sleep!”). The less blunt form is irregular: 자거라 (jageora, “sleep well!”). Other verbs with the irregular non-blunt form are 일어나다 (ireonada, “to get up”), 자라다 (jarada, “to grow”), 가다 (gada, “to go”), and compound verbs ending in 가다 (gada).