# 전화 온다 = The phone is ringing?



## Jgon

Isn't 온다 from 오다 (verb stem, to come) + -ᄂ다 ?

Phrase is from 
http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/lessons/level-5-lesson-16/
PDF, page 2

감사합니다~


----------



## RadkeRonnie

Yes, that's exactly right. In case you're not familiar with the grammar, I'll give an explanation. If you are familiar with the grammar, then yay, you answered your own question! You can stop reading now.

You know how there are levels of speech like 습니다, 아요/어요, and 반말? Those are usually used in speech and writing where you expect to get a response (like a text or email.) 습니다 is also sometimes used on signs and instructions and the like. But when something is written in a completely impersonal way, such as when the writer doesn't know and will probably never meet the reader, there's another style of speech, which is the one that's used here. It's used mostly in books, newspapers, magazines, and articles on the internet.

The way this style of speech works is the following. If you have a verb, then you take it's root and see if it ends in a vowel. If it does, then you add -ㄴ다. 
Ex: 가다 -> 간다, 오다 -> 온다, 하다 -> 한다, etc. 

If the verb ends in ㄹ, then ㄹ disappears, as it usually does around ㄴ, and you're left with a stem that ends in a vowel, so you apply the same rule. 
Ex: 알다 -> 안다, 살다 -> 산다, etc. 

If the verb doesn't end in a vowel, you add -는다. 
Ex: 먹다 -> 먹는다, 잡다 -> 잡는다, 돕다 -> 돕는다.

If you have an adjective, then you take it's dictionary form and do absolutely nothing to it. 있다 and 없다 fall under this category. 
Ex: 그 꽃은 아름답다, 이 셔츠는 비싸다, 나는 돈이 없다, 나는 개 3 마리를 키우고 있다, 화성은 붉은 행성이다, etc. 

Also, if anything is in the past tense, you do nothing to it. (This is by far the most common use of this form, because books and articles talk about things that happened in the past.) I'll pull some actual examples that aren't from my head.

이로써 지금까지 사망자는 모두 10명으로 늘어났다.
In this way the current death toll has risen to ten people. 

미주리주 소도시 퍼거슨시에 비상사태가 선포됐다.
A state of emergency was declared in the small town of Ferguson, Missouri. 

"야간 통행금지를 명령했다"고 발표했다.
[Sources] reported that [the governor] ordered a nighttime curfew.

I'm not a native speaker, but even if this isn't 100% right, it should be helpful.


----------



## Jgon

Yeah, but my question is how did 온다 come to mean "ringing" when 오다 (the dictionary form, apparently) means "to come?"


----------



## RadkeRonnie

It looks like I answered the wrong question. It's just the way they say it. It's like saying a call is coming. If you think about it abstractly it makes sense.


----------



## Rance

오다 is often used when you receice some form of news/mail/communications from others.
편지가 오다.
전화가 온다.
소포가 왔다.
교향에서 아버지가 위독하다는 소식이 학교로 왔다.


----------



## Jgon

Thanks, everyone~


----------

