Learning Korean (한국어 배우기) [COMPLETE]

Unit 1.2 - Korean Particles

Vocab

Adverb
Inside ~ 안 (aan)
On Top ~ 위 (we) < read english way
Below ~ 밑 (miit)
Besides ~ 옆 (yeop)
Behind ~ 뒤 (dwii)
In Front ~ 앞 (aap)
Here ~ 여기 (yeo-gii)

Verbs
To be at a location ~ 있다

Adjectives
To have something ~ 있다

Introduction

In this Lesson, you will learn about the particles ~이/가 and specifically how it can compare with ~는/은.

책 has a 받침, so -이 is added: 책이
침대 doesn't, so -가 is added: 침대가

But, in what situations should we use ~이/가? Before we get to that, I would like to teach you how to use the word "있다" in sentences.

있다: To have

The word "있다" has two distinct meanings - both of which are very common and important to an Korean learner. As you can see in the vocabulary list:

있다 = to have
있다 = to be at a location

You learned in Lesson 1 that sentences with adjectives can't act on an object. Thus, you can't have a word with the particle ~를/을 attached to it if the predicating word in a sentence is an adjective (because ~를/을 indicates an object in a sentence).

I have a pen

I 는 pen을있다
나는 + 펜을 + 있다
나는펜을있다 ❌

BUT, 있다 is acting as an adjective, so we can't have an object in that sentence. Therefore, the use of ~을 on "펜" is incorrect.
Then?
We add ~이/가 to the object instead of ~를/을 in sentences with 있다. This is one usage of the particle ~이/가 to indicate the thing that a person "has" in sentences with "있다." Look at the following example sentences:

나는 펜이 있다 = I have a pen
(나는 펜이 있어 / 저는 펜이 있어요)

나는 차가 있다 = I have a car
(나는 차가 있어 / 저는 차가 있어요)

있다: To be at a location

The thing that makes 있다 so difficult is that it can also mean "to be at a location."
The particle ~에 in Korean is used to indicate the place and/or time of something in a sentence. Therefore, ~에 is often used in sentences with 있다 to indicate the location of somebody/something.

For example: I am at school

If we wanted to write this sentence with Korean structure and particles, we would write:

I는 school에 am at
나는 + 학교에 + 있다

나는 학교에 있다 = I am at school
(나는 학교에 있어 / 저는 학교에 있어요)

Because 있다 has two different meanings, changing the particles in a sentence can drastically change the meaning. For example:

나는학교가 있다 = I have a school - this could make sense, but in most situations, you would probably want to say:
나는 학교에 있다 = I am at school

나는 잡지가 있다 = I have a magazine
나는 잡지에 있다 = I am at the magazine (this doesn't make sense)

We can also use position words to indicate specifically where someone/something is with respect to another noun.

These words are placed after a noun to indicate where an object is with respect to that noun. The particle "~에" is then attached directly to the position words. For example:

학교 앞에 = in front of the school
사람 뒤에 = behind the person
집 옆에 = beside the house
건물 뒤에 = behind the building

These constructions can now act as the location (adverb) in a sentence:

나는 학교에 있다 = I am at school

나는 학교 앞에 있다 = I am in front of the school
(나는 학교 앞에 있어 / 저는 학교 앞에 있어요)

Let's make some sentences:
나는 학교 뒤에 있다 = I am behind the school
(나는 학교 뒤에 있어 / 저는 학교 뒤에 있어요)

나는 학교 옆에 있다 = I am beside the school
(나는 학교 옆에 있어 / 저는 학교 옆에 있어요)

나는 학교 안에 있다 = I am inside the school
(나는 학교 안에 있어 / 저는 학교 안에 있어요)

고양이는 의자 밑에 있다 = The cat is under the chair
(고양이는 의자 밑에 있어 / 고양이는 의자 밑에 있어요)

You have learned that ~이/가 can be attached to nouns in sentences to indicate the object that a person "has."
~이/가 can also be used to indicate the subject of a sentence, similar to ~는/은.

~이/가 as a Subject Marker

One of the most difficult things for a new learner of Korean to understand is the difference between the particles ~는/은 and ~이/가. Earlier in this Lesson, you learned that you should use ~이/가 on the object that a person "has" when using "있다."

In addition to this, there are more functions of ~이/가 that you should know about.

You learned that you should add ~는/은 to the subject of the sentence. To use an example using the grammar taught earlier in this Lesson, you could say:

고양이는 집 뒤에 있다 = The cat is behind the house
(고양이는 집 뒤에 있어 / 고양이는 집 뒤에 있어요)

In this sentence, notice that the particle ~는/은 indicates that the "cat" is the subject.

However the sentence above could also be written like this:

고양이가 집 뒤에 있다 = The cat is behind the house
(고양이가 집 뒤에 있어 / 고양이가 집 뒤에 있어요)

The two sentences could have exactly the same meaning and feeling. I emphasize "could" because in some situations the meaning of the two sentences is exactly the same, but in other situations the meaning of two sentences can be subtly different.

~ 이/가, like ~는/은 is added to the subject of the sentence. In some situations, there is no difference in meaning or feel between adding ~이/가 or ~는/은 to the subject.

The reason why they could be subtly different:
~는/은 has a role of indicating that something is being compared with something else. The noun that "~는/은" is added to is being compared. In this example:

고양이는 집 뒤에 있다 = The cat is behind the house

The speaker is saying that the cat is behind the house (in comparison to something else that is not behind the house). The difficulty here is that there is only one sentence; which gives the listener no context to understand what "the cat" is being compared with. However, if I were to make up a context that fits into this situation, it could be that "The dog is in the house, and, the cat is behind the house."

However, saying:
고양이가 집 뒤에 있다 = The cat is behind the house
...is simply stating a fact, and "the cat" is not being compared to anything.

Another example:
커피가 냉장고에 있다 = The coffee is in the fridge (This sentence is simply stating that the coffee is in the fridge)

커피는 냉장고에 있다 = The coffee is in the fridge (This sentence could simply be stating that the coffee is in the fridge. Or it is perhaps to indicate that the tea is on the table, but the coffee is in the fridge).

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You also might be wondering why "안" isn't used if we are indicating that the coffee is in the fridge. In cases like this, where the location being described happens to be "inside" of something, "안" can be omitted. You can see the similarities of using "안" and not using it in the following English and Korean sentences:

커피가 냉장고에 있다
= The coffee is in the fridge

커피가 냉장고 안에 있다
= The coffee is inside the fridge