-(으)ㅁ Korean Grammar: Written Nominalization

Nominalizer that presents an action, state, or fact as a noun; especially visible in notices, records, and formal writing.

Before this, make sure you know: -아요 / -어요 , -습니다, -습니까 , -기

How to form it

When	Form	Example
Stem ends in a consonant (not ㄹ)	-음	먹다 → 먹음 / 없다 → 없음
Stem ends in a vowel	-ㅁ	가다 → 감 / 하다 → 함
Stem ends in ㄹ	ㄹ + -ㅁ	살다 → 삶 / 알다 → 앎
After -었-	-었음	갔음 / 먹었음

-음 / -ㅁ turns a stem into a noun — especially the kind you see on signs and memos.

금일 휴무임 — not a chatty sentence; a compact notice.

Forms

Stem	Form
Consonant (not ㄹ)	-음
Vowel	-ㅁ
ㄹ-final stem	keep ㄹ + ㅁ: 삶, 앎

없음 / 있음          none / available (label style)
확인 바람            please confirm (notice phrasing)
회의 참석했음        attended the meeting (log style)

Compared with everyday -기

Form	Typical home
-기 -기	spoken noun uses: 먹기가 어려워요
-음 / -ㅁ	notes, signs, terse writing

Saying 먹음이 어려워요 in casual chat sounds off. Keep -음 where Koreans actually put it — doors, apps, internal memos.

Not a speech level

-습니다, -습니까 finishes a full polite sentence. -음 often replaces a full ending on a note. Different tools.

Past notes

-았-/-었- -었- + -음 → -었음 is normal in report style. Do not stack a second past outside it for the same event.

Do not confuse it with

-기

making a noun out of a verb, the plain way

-습니다, -습니까

formal polite ending (합니다체) — announcements, first meetings, the news

-았-/-었-

past tense — built on the same stem rule as 해요체

Taught alongside this

On the jabi learning path, this appears in 한국에서 찜질방은 처음인데요 (This is my first jjimjilbang in Korea.) — Beginner Korean 2, Unit 14, on the theme of Living amenities. These come with it:

-지 seeking agreement — "right?" tacked onto a sentence -기 때문에 because — the written, more formal reason