LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

THIS AND THAT (이/그/저)

The word for "this" is 이 in Korean. We use 이 in Korean when we are talking about something that is within the touching distance (For example: this pen – i.e. the one I am holding). Just like in English 이 (this) is placed before the noun it is describing. For example:

이 사람 - this person
이 남자 - this man
이 여자 - this woman

Unfortunately, there are two words for "that": 그 and 저. Early learners of Korean are always confused with the difference between 그 and 저.

We use 그 when we are talking about something from a previous sentence or from previous context, regardless of if you could see it or not. If I were to say: "I don't like that man [when your friend mentioned him in a previous sentence]." The word "that" in that sentence would be how 그 is used.

We use 저 when we are talking about something that we can see, but cannot touch because it is too far away.

We can place 그 or 저 before a noun to describe "this" or "that" thing just like we did with 이.

이 사람 - this person
그 사람 - that person
저 사람 - that person

이 남자 - this man
그 남자 - that man
저 남자 - that man

이 여자 - this woman
그 여자 - that woman
저 여자 - that woman

One of the most common words in Korean is 것 meaning "thing." When 이, 그 or 저 are placed before 것, the result is a compound word. Therefore, when placing 것 after 이, 그 or 저, there should not be a space between the two. In other words, the following are words in and within themselves, and not two separate words:

이것 - this thing
그것 - that thing
저것 - that thing

We can now use these nouns as subjects or objects in a sentence.