-ㅁ/음: Turning Verbs and Adjectives into Nouns in Korean
-ㅁ/음 is a nominalizer – it turns a verb or adjective into a nominalised form, and it’s everywhere in formal Korean: notices, forms, reports, and especially the objective, detached tone TOPIK wants when you’re describing data. If you’ve ever seen “해당 없음” (not applicable) on a form or “이상 없음” (no abnormalities) on a report, that’s this pattern.
What Does -ㅁ/음 Mean?
-ㅁ/음 attaches to a verb or adjective stem and turns the whole idea into a noun: “the fact/state of ~ing” or “~ness.” It strips out personal voice and tone, which is exactly why it shows up so often in formal writing where the goal is to state something as an objective fact rather than a personal claim.
This matters directly for the TOPIK Writing Questions 53 and 54: the standard way to state a finding is with -았/었음을 알 수 있다 (“it can be seen that…”) or -았/었음을 보여준다 (“this shows that…”). If you’re not using this pattern yet in your Question 53 answers or your Question 54 essays, this is one of the fastest ways to level up your writing.
How to Use -ㅁ/음 (Grammar Structure)
Stem ends in a vowel → -ㅁ
크다 → 큼 (bigness / being big) 가다 → 감 (going)
Stem ends in a consonant → -음
있다 → 있음 (existing / there being) 만족하다 → 만족함… but for past fact: 만족했음
For a completed fact: past tense stem (-았/었) + -음
이용률이 가장 높았음을 알 수 있다. It can be seen that the usage rate was the highest.
이다 (to be) → 임 (irregular, but standard — common on forms)
참석 여부: 불참임. Attendance status: not attending.
Example Sentences
- 조사 결과 20대의 스마트폰 이용률이 가장 높았음을 알 수 있다. The survey results show that smartphone usage was highest among people in their 20s.
- 대부분의 학생들이 온라인 수업에 만족했음을 알 수 있다. It can be seen that most students were satisfied with online classes.
- 이 자료는 최근 5년간 이용자가 꾸준히 증가했음을 보여준다. This data shows that the number of users has steadily increased over the past five years.
- 신청 서류에 이름과 연락처가 없음. Name and contact information missing. (notice/form register)
- 회의 날짜: 미정임. Meeting date: undetermined. (이다 → 임, form register)
Practice: Try It Yourself
Write three sentences using -ㅁ/음:
- Describe a survey or graph result using -았/었음을 알 수 있다 — pick any topic (reading habits, smartphone use, exercise frequency).
- Write a short, form-style notice using -음 directly (e.g. “특이 사항 없음”).
- TOPIK Question 53 style: describe one trend from an imagined chart using -았/었음을 보여준다 or -았/었음을 나타낸다.
Once you’re done, check whether you needed the past tense stem before -음. If you’re stating a fact that was observed or measured (a survey result, a trend), you almost always want -았/었음, not the plain present stem — that’s the detail that separates a natural TOPIK sentence from an awkward one.
Want to see this pattern used inside a full model answer? Our TOPIK Writing Samples include Question 53 responses built around exactly this structure.