Level 1 Lesson 9 / topic,subject marking particles / 은, 는, 이, 가Level 1 Lesson 9 / topic,subject marking particles / 은, 는, 이, 가
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This lesson will introduce the topic marking particles and the subject marking particles in the Korean language. The topic marking particles and the subject marking particles play a very important role in Korean so it’s very important that you learn them well. But even some advanced-level speakers of the language can make mistakes regarding these particles, so please don’t worry even if you don’t get them right away. You will eventually be able to use them naturally after some practice. Today’s lesson is our first introduction to the particles. Make sure you read the PDF file as well. Thank you! Please feel free to ask any questions in the comment!
Lesson PDF in other languages (Participate in the translation!)
Discussion( leave a comment )
Yay! Finally. :D
Yay!! :) ㅋㅋㅋ
so if I don’t want to accidentally offend someone,then I shouldn’t use 은/는is it?
Basically, when you are changing topics and talking about something different, you can do that, but usually it’s safest to drop the particles in colloquial situations :)
Hi:
Can you guys post some examples when the particles are not use?? I’d like to see the difference btw when I can use them and/or when I can’t?
Cheers,
Thanks
If the sentence is simple, and if you don’t want to emphasize the topic or the sujbect too much, you can usually drop the particles. : )
오늘 추워요. = It’s cold.
오늘은 추워요. = (The other days weren’t, but) today it’s cold.
오늘이 추워요. = (When is the cold day?) Today is the cold day.
So even though it’s important to use the particles to make the sentences complete, you can drop the particles to make them ‘neutral’ :)
yay. i’ve been waiting for this because no matter how i study about it myself i still find it hard to understand.. hehehe! up to now i still don’t understand very well.. i’ll read the pdf and listen to the podcast over and over again so i’ll understand it..
anyway, thank you ttmik!! :)
Thank you so much for the support! Don’t worry if you don’t get it 100% right now because this is such an important part and also a confusing part of the Korean language, so we will make it easy for you to review things in the later lessons :) Thank you!
Hi! I´m a little confused can you please post more examples but pleas talk slower because we are thinking in a posible answer and you say everything so fast and that’s more complicated for us.
Please…. Thank you :)
Thanks for the feedback, jeen. :) We will talk more slowly : )
Holy Crap! this is like the best explanation of the topic marker/subject marker EVER….OMG I think I totally get it…FINALLY!!!!
와! 현우씨 목소리 정말 좋아요…^^
Thank you sooo much Matinga ;) 그리고 thank you for NOT saying “목소리는” ㅋㅋㅋ
Okay, I think I get it :)
Glad to hear that! :)
Good lesson. Are 은/는 and 이/가 about the same as は and が in Japanese?
Exactly! :)
웹사이트 사랑해… 감사합니다 for the great 비데오!! :D
감사합니다 ^_^!!!
OMG Awesome explanation! I’m still a bit confused but this has got to be the best lesson ever about 이/가 and 은/는.
P.S: I haven’t commented on here in a while but I’ll try to be more active again. :]
현우형 목소리 진짜 좋아요! ^^ (I hope this is correct, haha)
Julian :) That’s correct :) (both in grammar and in meaning LOL)
Thanks!
Awesome! thanks for explaining these 은/는 and 이/가!!
It is really confusing to foreigners to know when to use them.
And my 남편 couldn’t really explain it to me.
Thanks for helping, keep up the good work.
I am a fan. You are famous to me.
Thanks, Canadian living in Korea. ^^
Thanks a lot Kaite :) Great to hear that it helped!
This system also exists in Japanese, and very difficult to explain!
은/는 = は(wa)
이/가 = が(ga)
도쿄[는] 오늘 날씨[가] 좋았어요.
東京[は] 今日 天気[が] 良かったです。
I can’t explain exactly why I can distinguish the difference of these two particles, and can use them. Just “feeling” :P
This is one of the most difficult thing to master in Korean (or even Japanese) grammar!
Cheer up everyone! :)
감사합니다 for your comment :)
本当にありがとうね ^.^ あなたのコメントに見た後、私は本当にわかりました。
I always fail at using these.
이 사람들은 이상해요. (These people are weird.) It is right?
That’s correct :) If you are intending to contrast 이 사람들 again the others :)
Ok, let see if this correct, if incorrect please guide me :)
“that person is bad”
그사람 나빠요
그사람은 나빠요
그사람이 나빠요
so if for more neutral can i use only “그사람 나빠요”.
감사합니다. 이 레순 정말 좋아요. 많아 드울 거예요.
미안해요. 많아 도울 거예요
This was a good, very thorough lesson! I’m sure I’ll be listening to it over and over. Thank you TTMIK!!!
Thank you ^_^!!!!
고마워요… 이 레슨은 열심히 듣고 있어요… 머리속에 아직도 복잡하네요… 음~ 내가 너무 복잡하게 생각하나요…?? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 가끔식 문장을 쓸때 정확한 조사 어느 건지 몰라서 당황스럽고 답답해요… 난 아직 연습이 많이 필요한 듯 하네요… ㅠㅠ
음~ 친구가 문장에서 형용사는 단어 앞에 “이/가” 붙이면 된다고 했어요… 그게 맞나요..? 예: 가을이 너무 좋은데 짧아요… 나는 추운 겨울이 싫어해요…
Ah! Right till the end, I wasn’t sure why you would need subject/topic particles – when you started joking around about the voice and make up thing, that is when I realised how powerful those tiny things are! :o They are a little similar to stuff we use in my native languages, so I think I get it now!
정말 감사합니다!
I wonder if I said that right..!
Oh and a question! When you write/type Korean why is it that you don’t have spaces sometimes? For감사합니다 for example where as in English it would be weird to write thankyou.
Anu :) Thanks a lot for the comment!
The reason that 감사합니다 is written that way and NOT 감사 합니다 is because although the expression was originally 감사 합니다 with a space inbetween, the expression started being used so often over the course of time that it actually became one single phrase. ^^ Just like “Goodbye” came from “God Be With You”
Thanks. No matter how many texbooks I’ve read, the usage of these particles was still confusing. I’ll cherish this lesson and I’m sure I’ll be listening to it quite a lot.
So if I were to say, “내일은 제가 일해요” instead of 내일은 저는 일해요 , I’d be putting a different spin to the sentence. It’d be like saying, “As for tomorrow, none other than me/only I work” instead of just, “as for tomorrow, I work”. Did I get it right? *crosses fingers*
Hi, is really fun when i find people like me, with some doubts i mean i don´t feel lonely… when i can´t understand.. (T_T)…. but i have learn a lot through this web site it´s easier than others. dont you think?
@Mina
Yeah, it’s easier. :) I think reading the comments is just as useful as listening to/reading the lessons :)
I’ve just started learning Korean and chanced upon this website. Your teaching is really good. Casual, fun but teaches a lot of good stuff. Keep up the good work guys. I’ll continue to pop by often for new lessons. :) Hopefully my headache over particles will lessen soon… :)
Sherry :) Thanks a lot for the nice words ^_^!!!!
thank you for the lessons!!! the two of you is so good in teaching.
kamsahamnida!
Great to hear that ! Thanks a lot!!!
Awesome!! This was very helpful:)
I might need to listen to this a couple times…
Great job!
Thanks a lot ^_^!!
Hi, i´m so confused with this lesson (9), using this particles…. can you please put more examples…. please please!!! (T_T)
Mina :) Don’t worry. This lesson merely INTRODUCED what they are, and we are going to review them and cover them again and again in our future lessons, since they are really important, so don’t worry about it now :)
Love this…
Thanks for this, it’s super helpful :)
I read in the Sogang website that (은, 는) is used to show some comparison… Sort of like “This subject (in comparison to other things) is…” = Subject + 은/는. Is that right?
You guys sound like you’re having lots of fun while recording these lessons, it really rubs on to me while i listen to them. Not to mention, the girl (경은? im kinda bad at korean so far) sounds super cute. Anyways, im loving these so keep them up please!
About the lesson itself, these particles are so hard to get right. When i first started learning korean i classified them as “stuff that i will learn by practice” and indeed it has proven really difficult to get 는/은/이/가 properly but with time i surprise myself sometimes when which particle sounds right is the one that is indeed right and i find myself using them “by ear” (even tho i its about 50% of the time :P)
Nooo I wrote a pretty long comment and it never made it through >_< Aight i'll write it again:
I love this lessons from the moment I first heard them. I like the way that you guys seem to be having fun while teaching korean which is the exact same way that I feel while learning it. Not to mention the girl (경은? Im not very good at korean names) sounds super cute.
About the lesson itself; when I first started learning korean and came upon these particles I labed them as "stuff I will learn on the run with practice". Even tho I get them right 50% of the time by now its still surprising how sometimes i just "feel" which one is the right one.
Thank you so much for this!
As both of you mentioned, as Korean beginners we are constantly urged with the purpose of formulating ‘correct’ sentences that all subjects must be marked, topics be marked, etc..
The explanation of the nuances of each of the different uses of the particles really clears up a lot.
wow, what a lesson.
at first i was really confused about the topic and subject marking particles. as i was having difficulty identify which one is topic particle and which one is subject particles.
because when i learned Japanese a while ago, Topic and Subject is actually the same things. it is just a different way of calling it.
the Japanese grammar system is actually similar to Korean, because their GS is Subject orTopic + Object + Verbs (SOV) instead of English system SVO.
it is just the use of words that make me confused at first. it is hard when you study different languages and they contradicts each other LOL. Im going to read the pdf file and listen to the audio file once again, so i can be sure that i understand it 100%.
Gamsahapnida T2MIK Team ^^
Im back again ^^
can some kind soul out there please explain clearly when should i use a Subject Marking Particles VS Topic Marking particles.
they seems really similar to me and i cant distinguish the different between them. when i think the answer is Subject marking particles, the actual answer is Topic particles…
its really frustrating…
Gamsahapnida, from Australian with love.
Wow, that lesson was by far the best explanation of topic versus subject markers I’ve ever heard or read! But I have a couple of questions: I thought when writing Korean, we must always use particles; that it was only okay to drop them when speaking. Also, does anyone ever use 저or 제 without a topic or subject marker? How would you even know which pronoun form to use in that case since it’s 제가 or 저는? Thanks for your help!
Thank you for this lesson! For me this is one of the most difficult rule to understand, as I’m not used to this in my language. Much clearer after this lesson!
고맙습니다.정말 좋습니다.My classmates will surely like it.We are Moroccan students who have been learning korean language since last year.So,I will tell them about this website.We have a group in Facebook called “Les Etudiants de la langue coréenne de la Fac Suissi“.It is only about the students who are learning Korean in Rabat Morocco.I am sure they will love it.
안녕히 계세요
Thank you so much for these videos! 감사합니다!
I have a few questions.
I’ve heard that Korean doesn’t stress certain words in sentences, like English does. Is that true? And then, can the particles sometimes be used in the same way that stress on certain words in a sentence is used in English?
even though i’m still a bit confused, it a helped quite a lot.
정말 고마워요^^
이 레슨이 좋아요~
Q: 이거 너의 물이에요? 좀 너의 물주세요?
A: 녜…
(anyone corrrect me if i am wrong?) 감사합니다~
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