Learn Korean

Particles - Topic Particle 는 / 은

heyya, i'm back. Particles na tayo guys! itong first particle na tatalakayin natin (ang topic particle) ay kinuha ko sa ibang source other than the main source of this work na yung "Prime Korean" by Johnson Park. kasi dun sa Prime Korean, hindi tinalakay ang topic particles! so...

Source: http://www.learnkoreanlp.com/2006/11/party-with-particles.html

The first particle, we'll learn, is 는/은, the topic particle. 는/은 is used for a subject or topic of a

sentence. 는 is used for nouns without a final consonant, and 은 for nouns with a final consonant.

Let me explain,

•나는 = I am

•사람은 = A person is

나 consists of ㄴ+ㅏ

•ㄴ = n (an initial consonant)

•ㅏ = a (a vowel)

As you can see, 나 is a word without a final consonant, therefore 는 is attached to it.

On the other hand, 사람 which means 'a person' has 람 as a final character, and 람 consists of ㄹ+ㅏ

+ㅁ

•ㄹ = r,l (an initial consonant)

•ㅏ = a (a vowel)

•ㅁ = m (a final consonant)

사람 is a word with a final consonant. Therefore, 은 is attached to it.

The reason for these two different types of the topic particle, 는/은, is that for words with a final

consonant, it is easier to pronounce them with 은 rather 는.

Compare these two pronunciations,

•사람는 = sa-ram-nun

•사람은 = sa-ram-un → sa-ra-mun [사라믄]

As you can see, 사람는 is more rigid and awkward to pronounce, whereas 사람은 is more fluid and

easy to pronounce. 사람은 is actually pronounced 사라믄. The final consonant of 람, which is ㅁ, is

transferred to 은 to make it sound 믄.

(사람은 sounds a bit like "Sarah Moon" whereas 사람는 may sound like "Saram Noon".)

Listen to the pronunciations for yourselves in the Google Translate.

The following are example sentences using 는/은, the topic particle.

•나는 학생이다 = I am a student

•그는 친절하다 = He is kind

•이것은 연필이다 = This is a pencil

•하늘은 높다 = The sky is high

•그녀는 공부한다 = She studies

•존은 갔다 = John went

•영수는 먹었다 = Young-su ate

나 = I (pronoun)

학생 = a student

그 = he

친절하다 = kind

이것 = this

연필 = pencil

하늘 = sky

높다 = high

그녀 = she

공부하다 = study

존 = John

가다 = go

영수 = Young-su (a male name)

먹다 = eat

Use Google Translate to listen the pronunciations of these words.

Note: There are no articles in the parts of speech in Korean. "A, an and the" which are used to

identify and specify a noun in English and other languages are absent in Korean grammar.

yun lang po. short update, bawi ako. kbye :)