있다 : To have The word 있다 has many meanings. To a beginner of Korean, we can simplify and generalize these meanings into two forms or usages: 있다 = to h

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Nouns: 나라 = country 가방 = bag, backpack 창문 = window 잡지 = magazine 방 = room 냉장고 = refrigerator 개 = dog 강아지 = puppy 고양이 = cat 쥐 = rat 펜 = pen 전화기 = phone 커피 = coffee 식당 = restaurant 건물 = building 텔레비전 =

1 Nouns: 나라 = country 가방 = bag, backpack 창문 = window 잡지 = magazine 방 = room 냉장고 = refrigerator 개 = dog 강아지 = puppy 고양이 = cat 쥐 = rat 펜 = pen 전화기 = phone 커피 = coffee 식당 = restaurant 건물 = building 텔레비전 = television 미국 = USA Introduction In Lesson 1 you learned about simple 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 Nouns: 캐나다 = Canada 호텔 = hotel 학교 = school 은행 = bank In this Lesson, you will learn about the particles ~ 이 / 가 and specifically how it can compare with ~ 는 / 은. In all situations, ~ 이 is attached to nouns in which the last letter is a consonant (like ~ 은 ) and ~ 가 is attached to nouns in which the last letter is a vowel (like ~ 는 ). For example: 책 ends in a consonant ( ㄱ ), so ~ 이 is added: " 책이." 소파 ends in a vowel ( ㅏ ), so ~ 가 is added: " 소파가." Verbs: 있다 = to have 있다 = to be at a location Adverbs 안 = inside 위 = on top 밑 = below 옆 = beside 뒤 = behind 앞 = in front 여기 = here But, in what situations should we use ~ 이 / 가? Before we get to that, I would like to teach you how to use the word 있다 in sentences. Let s get started. HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 1

2 있다 : To have The word 있다 has many meanings. To a beginner of Korean, we can simplify and generalize these meanings into two forms or usages: 있다 = to have 있다 = to be at a location Let s talk about the first usage, to have. In English, to have is a verb that can act on an object. For example: I have a pen I have a car This usage of 있다 in Korean is an adjective. This is hard for a learner to wrap their head around. At this point, this is important to you for one reason. You learned in Lesson 1 that sentences with adjectives cannot act on an object. Thus, you cannot have a word with the particle ~ 을 / 를 attached to it if the predicating word in a sentence is an adjective (because ~ 을 / 를 indicates an object in a sentence). If this weren t the case, we could do the following to make the sentence I have a pen: I 는 pen 을있다나는 + 펜을 + 있다나는펜을있다 = I have a pen However, the sentence above is incorrect. 있다 is an adjective and cannot act on an object like this. Therefore, the use of ~ 을 on 펜 is incorrect. To get around this, we can attach ~ 이 / 가 to the object instead of ~ 을 / 를 in sentences with 있다. This is one usage of the particle ~ 이 / 가 ; that is, to indicate the thing that a person has in sentences with 있다. Look at the following example sentences: 나는펜이있다 = I have a pen ( 나는펜이있어 / 저는펜이있어요 ) 나는차가있다 = I have a car ( 나는차가있어 / 저는차가있어요 ) 나는잡지가있다 = I have a magazine ( 나는잡지가있어 / 저는잡지가있어요 ) 나는가방이있다 = I have a backpack ( 나는가방이있어 / 저는가방이있어요 ) Again, note that ~ 이 / 가 is being used to indicate the object instead of ~ 을 / 를. HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 2

3 Remember that the example sentences provided in these lessons are not conjugated. While conjugations are provided (one formal and one informal) 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 worrying about conjugating sentences and using honorifics. 있다 : To be at a location 있다 can also be used to indicate that something/someone is at 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 used in sentences with 있다 to indicate the location of something/someone. For example: I am at school If we wanted to write this sentence with Korean structure and particles, we would write: I 는 school 에 am at 나는 + 학교에 + 있다 This is irrelevant to you now, but when 있다 is used like this, it is again seen as an adjective. This is confusing, but or now, try to ignore it. I begin to discuss this more in Lesson 5 when I discuss the conjugations of 있다. 나는학교에있다 = I am at school ( 나는학교에있어 / 저는학교에있어요 ) Another example: 나는캐나다에있다 = I am in Canada ( 나는캐나다에있어 / 저는캐나다에있어요 ) Notice the very big difference in meaning between the following sentences, and the role that particles have in each case. Because 있다 has two different meanings, changing the particles in a sentence can drastically change the meaning. For example: 나는학교가있다 = I have a school this could make sense, but in most situations, you would probably want to say: 나는학교에있다 = I am at school 나는잡지가있다 = I have a magazine 나는잡지에있다 = I am at the magazine (this doesn t make sense) HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 3

4 We can also use position words to indicate specifically where someone/something is with respect to another noun. The most common position words are: 안 = inside 위 = on top 밑 = below 옆 = beside 뒤 = behind 앞 = in front These words are placed after a noun to indicate where an object is with respect to that noun. The particle ~ 에 is then attached directly to the position words. For example: 학교앞에 = in front of the school 사람뒤에 = behind the person 집옆에 = beside the house 저건물뒤에 = behind that building These constructions can now act as the location in a sentence: 나는학교에있다 = I am at school 나는학교앞에있다 = I am in-front of the school ( 나는학교앞에있어 / 저는학교앞에있어요 ) Let s make some more sentences: 나는학교뒤에있다 = I am behind the school ( 나는학교뒤에있어 / 저는학교뒤에있어요 ) 나는학교옆에있다 = I am beside the school ( 나는학교옆에있어 / 저는학교옆에있어요 ) 나는은행안에있다 = I am inside the bank ( 나는은행안에있어 / 저는은행안에있어요 ) 개는집안에있다 = The dog is in the house ( 개는집안에있어 / 개는집안에있어요 ) 고양이는의자밑에있다 = The cat is under the chair ( 고양이는의자밑에있어요 ) 나는캐나다에있다 = I am in Canada ( 나는캐나다에있어 / 저는캐나다에있어요 ) HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 4

5 식당은은행옆에있다 = The restaurant is next to the bank ( 식당은은행옆에있어 / 식당은은행옆에있어요 ) 호텔은학교옆에있다 = The hotel is next to the school ( 호텔은학교옆에있어 / 호텔은학교옆에있어요 ) You have learned that ~ 이 / 가 can be attached to nouns in sentences to indicate the object that a person has. ~ 이 / 가 can also be used to indicate the subject of a sentence, similar to ~ 는 / 은. What s the difference? Get ready to embark on the most confusing grammatical principle to foreign learners of Korean. So difficult and confusing, I wish I could teach you this concept in Lesson 100. Unfortunately, you will see ~ 이 / 가 used in almost every sentence and thus absolutely needs to be described early. Let s get started. ~ 이 / 가 as a Subject Marker One of the most difficult things for a new learner of Korean to understand is the difference between the particles ~ 는 / 은 and ~ 이 / 가. Earlier in this Lesson, you learned that you should use ~ 이 / 가 on the object that a person has when using 있다. In addition to this, there are more functions of ~ 이 / 가 that you should know about. In Lesson 1, you learned that you should add ~ 는 / 은 to the subject of the sentence. To use an example using the grammar taught earlier in this Lesson, you could say: 고양이는집뒤에있다 = The cat is behind the house ( 고양이는집뒤에있어 / 고양이는집뒤에있어요 ) In this sentence, notice that the particle ~ 는 / 은 indicates that the cat is the subject. However the sentence above could also be written like this: 고양이가집뒤에있다 = The cat is behind the house ( 고양이가집뒤에있어 / 고양이가집뒤에있어요 ) The two sentences could have exactly the same meaning and feeling. I emphasize could because in some situations the meaning of the two sentences is exactly the same, but in other situations the meaning of two sentences can be subtly different. This entirely depends on the situation of the conversation (what was said before, how it was said, etc ). HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 5

6 The reason why they could be identical: 고양이는집뒤에있다 = The cat is behind the house 고양이가집뒤에있다 = The cat is behind the house ~ 이 / 가, like ~ 는 / 은 is added to the subject of the sentence. In some situations, there is no difference in meaning or feel between adding ~ 이 / 가 or ~ 는 / 은 to the subject. The reason why they could be subtly different: ~ 는 / 은 has a role of indicating that something is being compared with something else. The noun that ~ 는 / 은 is added to is being compared. In this example: 고양이는집뒤에있다 = The cat is behind the house The speaker is saying that the cat is behind the house (in comparison to something else that is not behind the house). The difficulty here is that there is only one sentence; which gives the listener no context to understand what the cat is being compared with. However, if I were to make up a context that fits into this situation, it could be that The dog is in the house, and, the cat is behind the house. However, saying: 고양이가집뒤에있다 = The cat is behind the house is simply stating a fact, and the cat is not being compared to anything. Another example: 커피가냉장고에있다 = The coffee is in the fridge (This sentence is simply stating that the coffee is in the fridge, and there is no intention of comparison) 커피는냉장고에있다 = The coffee is in the fridge (This sentence could simply be stating that the coffee is in the fridge. It is also possible that the speaker is trying to distinguish between the location of another object. For example, perhaps the tea is on the table, but the coffee is in the fridge) You also might be wondering why 안 isn t used if we are indicating that the coffee is in the fridge. In cases like this, where the location being described happens to be inside of something, 안 can be omitted. You can see the similarities of using 안 and not using it in the following English and Korean sentences: 커피가냉장고에있다 = The coffee is in the fridge 커피가냉장고안에있다 = The coffee is inside the fridge In both pairs of examples (using ~ 는 / 은 or ~ 이 / 가 ), the translation does not change by altering the subject particle. Rather, the only thing that changes is the subtle feeling or nuance that something is being compared. HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 6

7 Note that this comparative function of ~ 는 / 은 can be used in much more complicated sentences, and can be attached to other grammatical principles neither of which you have learned yet. In future lessons, not only will you see examples of increasing complexity applying this concept, but its usage with other grammatical principles will be introduced specifically. You need to remember that the example sentences given at this level are incredibly simple and do not really reflect actual sentences that you are likely to hear as one-off sentences from Korean people. Real speech is much more complex and it usually is an intricate combination of many clauses and grammatical principles. Our lessons don t really get into the use of multiple clauses until Lesson 24. Creating sentences with more than one clause opens an entire other can of worms that you don t have the tools to deal with yet. I encourage you to NOT read ahead to that lesson. Rather, I encourage you to keep the information from this lesson in mind as you eventually do reach that level. As you progress through our Lessons, you will see both ~ 는 / 은 and ~ 이 / 가 used as the subject particles in the thousands of example sentences we have provided. As almost all of our example sentences are just written as one sentence (without any background, prior context, or explanation of the situation), there is no way to tell if something is being compared to and thus their usage is usually arbitrary. That being said every Korean example sentence throughout all of our lessons is always checked by a native Korean speaker to make sure that nothing is awkward (or incorrect). In addition to the distinction discussed in this lesson, there are other situations where it might be more appropriate to use ~ 이 / 가 or ~ 은 / 는. However, I am not able to fully describe the distinction between these two particles with the limited amount of grammar (and vocabulary) understanding you have to this point. The purpose of this lesson is to give you a general understanding of ~ 이 / 가, and to introduce you to the comparison between ~ 는 / 은. At this point, I would like you to continue to Lesson 3 to continue learning other grammatical principles you need to deepen your understanding of Korean in general. In Lessons 17 and 22, we will come back to this problem and dive into more ways we can distinguish the functions of ~ 이 / 가 and ~ 는 / 은. I want to stress that I do not want you to read these now, but you should know that there is more to distinguishing ~ 는 / 은 and ~ 이 / 가 than is described here. If you haven t reached Lesson 17 (and especially if you haven t even moved on to Lesson 3) you won t understand what is being described in that lesson. Being able to fully understand the difference between ~ 이 / 가 and ~ 는 / 은 is important, but not as important (at the moment) as understanding other aspects of Korean grammar. I can t stress this enough your understanding of the difference between the two will progress with your Korean development in general. HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 7

8 The good thing is, even if you make a mistake with the usages of ~ 이 / 가 and ~ 는 / 은 (either because you are confused or because you haven t reached the later lessons yet), 99.9% of the time, the listener will be able to understand exactly what you are trying to express. Likewise, if you listen to somebody speaking, you will be able to understand what they are trying to say regardless of if you have learned the more complex usages of ~ 이 / 가 and ~ 는 / 은. The difference between these two particles is about nuance and does not dramatically change the meaning of sentence. Making a mistake between other particles, however, would cause other people to misunderstand you. For example, using ~ 를 / 을 instead of ~ 는 / 은 would (most likely) make your sentence incomprehensible. That s it for this lesson. Please keep all of this information in your mind for future lesson. We will continue this discussion in Lesson 17. For now, please continue to Lesson 3. HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 8

Page 2 of 5 아니다 means to not be, and is therefore the opposite of 이다. While English simply turns words like to be or to exist negative by adding not,

Page 2 of 5 아니다 means to not be, and is therefore the opposite of 이다. While English simply turns words like to be or to exist negative by adding not, Page 1 of 5 Learn Korean Ep. 4: To be and To exist Of course to be and to exist are different verbs, but they re often confused by beginning students when learning Korean. In English we sometimes use the