Korean Language Tutorial

Lesson 16

Korean lessons: Lesson 16
Topic marking particles 은/ 는
The main role of topic marking particles is letting the other people know what you are talking about or going to talk about, and topic marking particles are attached after nouns.
Words ending with a last consonant + -은
Words ending with a vowel + -는
Examples:
가방 [ga-bang] + 은 [eun]
나 [na] + 는 [neun]
The topic of the sentence, marked by 은 [eun] or 는 [neun] is usually (but not always) the same as the subject of the sentence.
저 [jeo] = I 저 + 는[neun] = 저는
[jeo-neun] = as for me / (I am talking) me
저는 학생이에요. [jeo-neun hak-saeng-i-e-yo] = As for me, I am a student. / I am a student.
Here, the word 저 (I) is both the topic of the sentence (talking about “I” here) and the of
the sentence (“I” is the subject, and “am” is the verb.”)
내일은저는일해요. [nae-il-eun jeo-neun il-hae-yo] = “As for tomorrow, I work.”
Here, 내일[nae-il], tomorrow, is followed by 은[eun], is a topic, but not the subject of the verb 일하다 [il-ha-da], “to work” because it is not “tomorrow” that works but “I” that work.
In addition to marking topics, 은 [eun] / 는 [neun] has the nuance of “about” something, “as for” something, or even “unlike other things” or “different from other things.”
Subject marker: -이/가
As mentioned in Lesson 1, Korean is an agglutinating language. It means that Korean uses little grammatical devices attached to words to specify their roles in a sentence. English is not an agglutinating language, employing rather a fixed word order and prepositions in order to specify the role of each part.
A subject of a sentence is the agent (doer) of the action described by the sentence. Assuming that a state of being can also be treated as an action, a subject can take any kind of predicate, i.e., a verbal, an adjectival, or a nominal predicate. Think of "S goes," "S is bad," and "S is a man." In each case, S is the subject. To mark this subject, Korean attaches either 이 or 가 to it. -이 is used when the subject word ends without a final consonant (patch'im), whereas -가 is for those ending without a final consonant.
Only nouns can be subjects in Korean, such is the case in English. In other words, when you see a part of a sentence attached with -이 or -가, you will know that it must be a noun. However, you might hear sometimes people say sentences without using subject markers -이/가 for subjects. It is because the sentences were simple and a conversational reality is presumed. For these sentences, subject markers can be replaced by a short pause. In sentences the structure of which is complex, or in written forms, the markers should be specified.
Finally, we get a sentence meaning, "The embassy is far."
Now, let's look at some more examples.
subject predicate
이 바지 가 편안해요. These pants are comfortable.
기차 가 와요. The train is coming.
선생님 이 웃으세요. The teacher is laughing.
저것 이 학교이에요. That (over there) is a school.
이것 이 곰이예요. This is a bear.
So, basically,
topic marking particles(은/는) express what the topic of the sentence is,
and
subject marking particles(이/가) show what the subject of the sentence is,
In addition to marking subjects, 이 [i] / 가 [ga] has the nuance of “none other than” “nothing
but” and also, when used inside a complex sentence, the role of marking the subject without
emphasizing it too much.
Let’s look at some examples of
.
이거 [i-geo] = this / 사과 [sa-gwa] = apple / 예요 [ye-yo] = to be / is
이거 사과예요.
[i-geo sa-gwa-ye-yo] = This is an apple.
You can add 은/는 to this, and in this case the subject, 이거, ends in a vowel, so add 는.
이거는사과예요. [i-geo-NEUN sa-gwa-ye-yo] = (The other things are not apples, but) THIS is an apple.
So you can imagine someone talking like this:
이거 커피예요. [i-geo keo-pi-ye-yo] smile emoticon This is coffee)
이거는물이에요. [i-geo-NEUN mul-i-e-yo] smile emoticon That was coffee, but THIS ONE, it’s water.)
이거는 오렌지주스예요. [i-geo-NEUN o-ren-ji-ju-seu-ye-yo] smile emoticon And THIS ONE, it’s different again, it’s orange juice.)
이거는뭐예요? [i-geo-NEUN mwo-ye-yo?] smile emoticon And what about this one? What is it?)
As you can see from this example, 은/는 has the role of emphasizing the topic of the sentence
by giving it the nuance of “that one is ... and/but THIS ONE is...” So sometime it is unnatural to
used 은/는 in every sentence you say.
So in Korean, although 은 and 는 are generally topic marking particles, people often save 은/는
for really emphasizing the topic in contrast to the other parts of the sentence.
For example, if you want to say “The weather’s nice today.” in Korean, you can say it in many
ways. (Don’t worry about the entire sentence here. Just focus on the use of 은/는.)
1) 오늘 날씨 좋네요. [o-neul nal-ssi jot-ne-yo]The weather’s good today.
2) 오늘은날씨 좋네요. [o-neul-EUNnal-ssi jot-ne-yo](The weather hasn’t been so good lately,but TODAY, it’s good.)
3) 오늘 날씨는좋네요. [o-neul nal-ssi-NEUN jot-ne-yo] (Today, not necessarily everything else too, but at least
the weather is good.)
So THAT’s how powerful and useful the topic marking particles (은/는) can be in changing the
nuance of your Korean sentences!
Let’s look at some examples of
좋아요 [jo-a-yo] = it’s good / 뭐 [mwo] = what / 이/가 [i/ga] = subject marking particles
Imagine that one says “좋아요. [jo-a-yo]” and that means “It’s good.” or “I like it.”
But if you are not quite sure WHAT is good, you can ask “WHAT is good?” or “What are you talking about?”
Object marker -을 / -를
[Not many people are fond of talking about grammar. However, this is the least bit of the Korean grammar that you should know. We will be as plain as possible while discussing it.] An object in a sentence is the thing or a person that receives the action (described by the verb) from the subject. As we know, the subject is the doer (agent) of the action that the verb describes.
In this sentence, the doer of eating is "friend ('my' is assumed)," and the recipient of the action ("eating") is "lunch." As you might have noticed already, not every sentence will have both subject and object. Only those sentences containing verbs that take objects will. Let us think about English for a moment, in order to understand this grammatical terminology. In English grammar, the verbs that take objects are called 'transitive verbs.' For example, "to eat" is a transitive verb, since there must be something that is eaten (that is, receives the action). Similarly, you have a group of verbs that are transitive and another that are intransitive. Such verbs as "love, buy, drink, see, understand, choose, find..." are transitive. (What these verbs have in common is that you can say "to [verb] something / someone.") Such verbs as "go, sit, stay, die, come..." are intransitive. You handle an object in an English sentence simply by placing it AFTER the verb.
A dog
subject bites
verb predicate a person.
object
　
If you switch the positions of the subject and the object, you get a completely different meaning.
A person
subject bites
verb predicate a dog.
object
Now, let's go back to Korean. We know that the predicate must be placed at the of a sentence. Thus, both subject and object should come before the verb (predicate), and such change of meaning depending on the word order is less likely to happen. A subject does not necessarily come before the object in a Korean sentence. What clarifies the meaning, therefore, is the particle, i.e., subject/object markers. (Linguists usually call them Case markers.)
사람이
subject "a person" 개를
object "a dog" 물어요.
verb predicate "bite"
"A person bites a dog."
-이 and -를 are subject and object markers, respectively. Since the subject and object are labeled with markers, there is no possibility of confusion, as long as you keep them together.
개를
object "a dog" 사람이
subject "a person" 물어요.
verb predicate "bite"
"A person bites a dog."
　
The meaning can only change when you switch the markers.
사람을
object "a person" 개가
subject "a dog" 물어요.
verb predicate "bite"
"A dog bites a person."
Oftentimes, a subject is simply not said in Korean when it is understood.
A: 개가 누구를 물어요? (Who does the dog bite?)
B: 사람을 물어요. ([It] bites a person.)
As you might have noticed, the difference between -을 and -를 is purely phonological: when the previous syllable ends with a consonant (patch'im), use -을; with a vowel (no patch'im), use -를.