LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

SOMETHING/SOMEWHERE/SOMETIME/SOMEBODY

~ㄴ가 can be added to the words 'what,' 'where,' 'when,' and 'who' to mean 'something,' 'somewhere,' 'sometime,' and 'somebody.' For example:

뭐 - what
뭔가 - something

The subject and object particles in general can be omitted from any sentence (although I don't suggest omitting particles until you have a very deep understanding of Korean), but they seem to be more commonly omitted from these types of sentences. Many examples:

나는 방금 뭔가(를) 봤어 - I just saw something a minute ago
등에 뭔가(가) 있어요 - There is something on your back
저는 팔에 뭔가(가)느껴져요 - I feel something on my arm

어디 - where
어딘가 - somewhere

By the nature of the word "somewhere," you are most likely to use the particles ~에 or ~에서 in these sentences. It would be acceptable to omit the particle ~에 from 어딘가 but less acceptable to omit the particle ~에서. Many examples:

열쇠를 어딘가(에) 뒀어 - I left my keys somewhere전쟁이 아시아 어딘가에서 났어요 - A war broke out somewhere in Asia
피가 어딘가에서 나오고 있어요 - Blood is coming out of somewhere

언제 - when
언젠가 - sometime/someday

~에 is typically not attached to 언젠가. Many examples:

그 날이 언젠가 올 거예요 - The day will come sometime
구름이 언젠가 걷힐 거예요 - The clouds will clear eventually/sometime
저는 언젠가 경찰관이 되고 싶어요 - I want to become a police officer someday

When I first learned about this word, I wondered if particles like ~까지 or ~부터 could be attached to it because 언젠가 represents a place. I kept bugging Korean people to try to make me example sentences of these particles attached to 언젠가 and they always came up with nothing. I realized that in both English and Korean, it isn't logical to make sentences with "until someday" or "from someday."

누구 - who
누군가 - somebody

누군가(는) 너를 찾고 있어 - Somebody is looking for you
저는 누군가의 열쇠를 찾았어요 - I found somebody's keys
경찰관들은 누군가와 얘기하고 있어요 - The policemen are talking with somebody

You learned about using 어느 in sentences. Another usage of 어느 is to reference a vague place or point in time. I am including this explanation in this section of the lesson because of the similarities with the sentences above.

You would often see this type of thing in stories, poetry or news reports where the specific location does not need to be given. This would be similar to something like this at a start of a story in English:

A long time ago in a far-away castle, or
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

In this usage, 어느 is commonly placed before a broad indication of time or place. For example:

어느 날 - some day (an ambiguous day)
어느 밤 - some night (an ambiguous night)
어느 겨울 - some winter (an ambiguous winter)
어느 여름 - some summer (an ambiguous summer)
어느 마을 - some village (an ambiguous village)
어느 시장 - some market (an ambiguous market)

Here, the person speaking/writing this way because he/she does not need to specifically reference the time. Some example sentences:

어느 겨울 꽃이 다 사라졌다 - Some winter, all the flowers disappeared
어느 마을에서 애기 두 명이 태어났다 - Two babies were born in some village
그 다음 날, 할머니가 어느 시장을 구경하고 있었다 - The next day, the grandmother was browsing around some market

Again, like I said, you would most likely see these types of sentences used in stories, often setting up the scenario or something within a book.

It is also possible to use a question word to refer to an ambiguous place, thing or person. This is most commonly done with the following words:

어디
Person 1: 엄마가 집에 있어? - Is mom at home
Person 2: 아니요. 어디 갔어. - No, she went somewhere

뭐
우리가 이미 뭐 먹었어요 - We already ate something

누구
나는 내일 누구 만날 거야 - Tomorrow I'm going to meet somebody

Using these words like this is quite advanced, and is not something I learned until a few years of exposure with Korean. What makes these usages even more confusing is that you can use these words in sentences when you are asking a question. For example:

뭐 먹었어요? Could mean both:
– What did you eat? or
– Did you eat something?

어디 갔어요? Could mean both:
– Where did you go? or
– Did you go somewhere

누구(를) 만났어요? Could mean both:
– Who did you meet? Or
– Did you meet somebody

Distinguishing them, believe it or not, can be done quite easily if you train your ear correctly. When using "뭐, 어디 or 누구" as the question word in the sentence, the stress of the sentence is on the question word itself.

When using "뭐, 어디 or 누구" to refer to an ambiguous thing, place or person, the stress of the sentence is on the verb.

As I mentioned however, this is quite advanced. You might not be able to hear the difference at this stage in your learning, but it is good to be aware of as you continue to progress through your studies.