KOREAN LANGUAGE TUTORIAL

LESSON 19

Korean lessons: Lesson 19

Korean Particles: 이 and 가
In last Lesson you learned the simplest Korean particles. To review, you learned that:
는 or 은 are used to indicate the subject (or main person/thing) in a sentence.
를 or 을 are used to indicate the object in a sentence.
For example, in this sentence: “I ate a hamburger”
I is the subject of the sentence
Hamburger is the object
Eat is the verb
A new particle to learn in this lesson is 이 or 가. These particles are the same, but:
- When the last letter of the last syllable of a word ends in a vowel, we use 가. For example, 소파 ends in a vowel (ㅏ), so it changes to "소파가." - When the last letter of the last syllable of a word ends in a consonant, we use 이. For example, 책 ends in a consonant (ㄱ), so it changes to "책이."

What I am about to say is very difficult for English people to grasp. When I started learning Korean, it took me months to understand this, and it was not because it was difficult. Rather, nobody explained it to me in a way that allowed me to understand. I’ll do my best to explain it to you. -JLR

When a part of a sentence is not the main clause of a sentence, we use 이 or 가 to indicate the subject of that clause of the sentence. Let’s look at some examples:
“I ate a hamburger”
This sentence only has one clause. Therefore, we do not need to worry about using 이 or 가. If we wanted to write this sentence with Korean structure and particles, we would write: I는 hamburger를 ate
Another example:
“I listened to music”
This sentence only has one clause. Therefore, we do not need to worry about using 이 or 가. If we wanted to write this sentence with Korean structure and particles, we would write: I는 music를 listened
But, in this example:
“When my mother ate a hotdog, I ate a hamburger.”
In this sentence, there are two clauses. The main clause of the sentence is you eating a hamburger. “When my mother ate a hotdog” is simply indicating when you ate a hamburger. So, “when my mother ate a hotdog” is not the main clause of the sentence.
If we wanted to write this sentence with Korean structure and particles, we would write:
My mother가 hotdog를 ate when, I는 hamburger를 ate.
Let’s look at another example:
“While my mother cooked vegetables, I listened to music”
In this sentence, there are two clauses: The main part of the sentence is you listening to music. “While my mother cooked” is simply indicating when you listened to music. Therefore, “while my mother cooked” is not the main clause of the sentence.
If we wanted to write this sentence with Korean structure and particles, we would write:
My mother가 vegetables를 cooked while, I는 music를 listened.
Unfortunately, if I were to make an actual example of that sentence, it would be much to complicated for you to understand at the moment. You have not been introduced to verbs (or adjectives for that matter), so I will wait until the next lesson to discuss these topics. For now - don't worry about the full meaning of the sentence - just make sure you understand why and where 이/가 should be used in this case.
있다 (to have)
Korean verbs and adjectives are actually very easy to understand. Unfortunately, the threthree most difficult to understand are also the three most common. These three words are:
이다 = to be (which you learned in last Lesson)
있다 = to have
있다 = to be in/at a location
It’s not that these three words are difficult, but rather that they are irregular compared to most other words. You learned in Lesson 1 that 이다 (to be) acts as an adjective in Korean. 있다 (to have) is also acts an adjective in Korean.
Why is this important?
You learned in Lesson 1 that sentences with adjectives cannot have an object in them. Thus, you cannot have a word with the particle 를/을 attached to it when there is an adjective in a sentence (because 를/을 indicates an object in a sentence).
If this weren’t the case, we could do the following:
I have a pen
I 는 pen을 있다 저는 + 펜을 + 있다
저는 펜을 있다 = I have a pen
BUT, remember, 있다 acts as an adjective, so we cannot have an object in that sentence. How do we get around this? Simple! We just use 이/가 instead of 를/을 in sentences with 있다. I said earlie, 이/가 are used to indicate the subject of a part of a sentence that is not the main clause of that sentence. That is true, but 이/가 are also used to indicate the thing that you have. Let’s look at some examples:
저는 펜이 있다 = I have a pen (저는 펜이 있어요)
저는 차가 있다 = I have a car (저는 차가 있어요)
저는 잡지가 있다 = I have a magazine (저는 잡지가 있어요)
저는 가방이 있다 = I have a backpack (저는 가장이 있어요)

"Remember that the example sentences provided in last Lessons and next Lessons are not conjugated. While one form of conjugation is provided in parentheses below each example sentence, the grammar within these conjugations is too complicated for you to understand right now. For now, focus on what is being presented in these first four lessons before you start to worry about conjugating sentences and using honorifics". -JLR

있다 (to be at/in a location)
The thing that makes 있다 so difficult is that it can also mean “to be at/in a location.” In Lesson 1 you learned about the particle 에 in Korean. You learned that this particle is used to indicate the place and/or time of something in a sentence. Therefore, "에" is often seen 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
저는 + 학교에 + 있다
저는 학교에 있다 = I am at school (저는 학교에 있어요)
Notice the very big difference (in meaning) between these two sentences, and the role that particles have in each case:
저는 학교가 있다 = I have a school
저는 학교에 있다 = I am at school
We can also use position words to indicate specifically where someone/something is:
I 는 school in front에 am 저는 + 학교 앞에 + 있다 저는 학교 앞에 있다 = I am infront of the school (저는 학교 앞에 있어요)
Notice that the position word is placed after the place you are talking about:
학교 앞에 = in front of the school 사람 뒤에 = behind the person 집 옆에 = beside the house 저 건물 뒤에 = behind that building
More examples
저는 학교 뒤에 있다 = I am behind the school
(저는 학교 뒤에 있어요)
저는 학교 옆에 있다 = I am beside the school
(저는 학교 옆에 있어요)
저는 은행 안에 있다 = I am inside the bank
(저는 은행 안에 있어요)
개는 집 안에 있다 = The dog is in the house
(개는 집 안에 있어요)
고양이는 의자 밑에 있다 = The cat is under the chair
(고양이는 의자 밑에 있어요)
저는 캐나다에 있다 = I am in Canada
(저는 캐나다에 있어요)
식당은 은행 옆에 있다 = The restaurant is next to the bank
(식당은 은행 옆에 있어요)
호텔은 학교 옆에 있다 = The hotel is next to the school
(호텔은 학교 옆에 있어요)
-JLR-