Learn Korean , Learn 한굴 by Hwal-wal

#Unit_Lessons 56: Particles ~ N은/는

~ N은/는 :

~ Grammar Focus:

1 은/는 designates the topic, or the target of exposition, of a particular sentence or group of sentences. Thus it means the same as ‘as for’ or ‘regarding’. For words ending in a vowel, 는 is added, and for words ending in a consonant, 은 is added.

· 저는 한국 사람입니다. I’m Korean. · 리처드 씨즞 29살입니다. Richard is 29 years old.

2 은/는 is also used when referring to something mentioned earlier in a conversation or when talking about something already known by both sides in the conversation. In other words, 은/는 is used when expressing ‘old’ information.

· 저는 내일 요코 씨를 만나뇨. 요코 씨즞 일본에소 왔어요. I’ll meet Yoko tomorrow. Yoko came from Japan.

· 저는 작년에 뉴욕에 갔었어요. 뉴욕은 정말 아름다웠어요. I went to New York last year. New York was really beautiful.

· 옛날에 한 남자가 살았어요. 그 남자는 아이들이 두 명 있었어요. Once upon a time, there lived a man. He had two sons.

3 은/는 is used when comparing or contrasting two things, and, in such cases, it can be attached not only to subjects but also the objects or other parts of the sentence.

· 에릭은 미국 사람이에요. 그렇지만 준호는 한국 사람이에요. Eric is American. Junho, however, is Korean. (subject comparison)

· 저는 축구는 좋아해요. 그렇지만 야구는 좋아하지 않아요. I like soccer. However, I don’t care for baseball. (object contrast)

· 서울에는 눈이왔어요. 그렇지만 부산에는 눈이 오지 않았어요. Snow fell in Seoul. In Pusan, however, snow did not fall. (location contrast)

A 아니요, 배는 있어요? Do you have apples? B 사과 있어요. No, (but) we have pears. (alludes to the fact that while there are no apples, there are, however, pears)

In Conversation:

A 부모님 직업이 뭐예요? A What do your parents do? B 아버지는 회사원이에요. B My father is a company employee. 그리고 어머니는 선생님이에요. And my mother is a teacher.

A 도쿄가 어때요? A How’s Tokyo? B 도쿄는 많이 복집해요. B Tokyo is really crowded.

A 안녕하세요? 저는 댄입니다. A Hello. I’m Dane. B 안녕하세요? 저는 캐럴이에요. B Hello. I’m Carol. I’m American. 미국 사람이에요.

source courtesy of: Korean grammar in use ^^