잠가 주세요: Practise a Korean Locking Request and the Form 잠가

To ask someone to lock a door politely, practise 문을 잠가 주세요. The dictionary form is 잠그다, but the form used before 주세요 here is 잠가. Learn the short sentence with a clear object and situation, then change one part at a time.

In this guide

1. 1. Start with the dictionary form and its listed change
2. 2. Say what you want the listener to secure
3. 3. Separate a request from a report
4. 4. Use a small recall exercise
5. 5. Common learner questions

1. Start with the dictionary form and its listed change

The National Institute of Korean Language’s Basic Korean Dictionary lists 잠그다 and the forms 잠가, 잠그니 and 잠급니다. Its meanings include locking a door or similar opening, shutting off a flow such as water, and fastening clothing buttons.

For this exercise, keep the target form visible on your card: 잠그다 → 잠가. Read it aloud before practising the request. The point is to recall this verb’s form, not to invent a rule for every Korean verb from one example.

Check 잠그다 and its forms in the official dictionary

2. Say what you want the listener to secure

The following sentences are original practice examples. An object makes your request easier to interpret when the situation is not already shared.

Situation	Practice request	Meaning in this exercise
Door	문을 잠가 주세요.	Please lock the door.
Tap	수도꼭지를 잠가 주세요.	Please turn off the tap.
Buttons	단추를 잠가 주세요.	Please fasten the buttons.

Do not translate every use as “lock”. With a tap, the action concerns stopping the flow; with buttons, it concerns fastening. Use the object to choose the English meaning rather than replacing it with a guessed technical term.

3. Separate a request from a report

Try this short invented exchange at a doorway: A: 문을 잠가 주세요. B: 네, 잠갔어요. A makes the request; B reports that the action has been done. The second line is useful language practice, not proof of the physical door’s condition.

What you are doing	Original practice line
Making the request	문을 잠가 주세요.
Reporting your action	문을 잠갔어요.
Asking about the action	문을 잠갔어요?

Practise the question with question intonation and punctuation. Then swap roles. A partner can answer the question rather than repeating the request automatically. If you do not know whether something was done, use a question instead of reporting it as a fact.

4. Use a small recall exercise

1. Write 잠그다 on one side of a card and 잠가 on the other.
2. Add one object: 문, 수도꼭지 or 단추.
3. Say the request without reading the model.
4. Turn the card over and check the spelling.
5. Make a report, then ask your partner a question.

Keep an error note as small as the error: “I need to recall 잠가”. There is no need to copy a whole dictionary page. After a pause, try the same object again before adding a new one.

5. Common learner questions

Do I always need to say 문을?

A shared situation may make the object clear. For this practice, keep it in the sentence so you can connect the verb with the intended action.

Is 잠가 the dictionary form?

The dictionary headword is 잠그다. 잠가 is one of its listed forms and the form practised in 잠가 주세요 here.

Are these dialogues quoted from the dictionary?

No. The short dialogues and recall exercise are original learning examples; the official entry supports the meanings and listed forms.

Sources checked on 11 October 2026. National Institute of Korean Language: 잠그다

The cover illustration was created with AI to explain the topic.