Rina
How do you know when to use "은"/"는" vs. "이"/"가" ? I am a complete beginner with Korean. I can somewhat read hangul and I understand a few words and phrases but that's about it. In the book that I am using (which I got while I was in Korea), they say that "은"/"는" indicates a topic and "이"/"가" indicates a subject; however, I have never had topic and subject present to me as two separate concepts when discussing grammar before so this really confuses me. I've seen them both alone and and together in sentences but I still don't quite understand how they are used differently from one another. For example, what would be the difference between saying "책이많습니다" and "책은많습니다?" Are one of these simply wrong? If so, why? I'd greatly appreciate any help on the matter.
Jun 23, 2014 12:37 PM
Answers · 4
2
you need to choose 은/는/이/가 based on the case if the word that comes before 은/는/이/가 has "받침" or not. 나 is the word without 받침 but 난 has 받침. 사'과', 아'기', 남'자', 여'자' have no 받침 but 공'책', 연'필', 핸드'폰' have 받침. so you need to read a lot of articles. But, there is another way how you use 은/는/이/가. When you see the word that can come before both 은/는 and 이/가, you should figure out what the speaker want to say. if specially you see 은/는, you should find hidning meaning of it. 책이 많아요.=we have lots of books. 책'은' 많아요=we have lots of books...................but.......(we dont have pencils....etc) 나는 사과가 좋아: I like apples. 나는 사과'는' 좋아: I like apples but......................( I prefer grapes...)
June 23, 2014
2
I guess this is one of FAQ of Korean. Refer to my answer in http://www.italki.com/question/250760 See also http://www.italki.com/question/250570
June 23, 2014
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