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Nelly Chu
what's the difference between 나는, 저는, 네가, and 제가?
Hi, i am just a beginner learning Korean.
Although my 산생님 tells us so far that 나는, 저는, 네가, and 제가 all mean "i am".
But i am still wondering the difference between them for the native speaker.
Is there anyone could help me figure out this question? Thanksout a lot. : )
Nov 3, 2011 6:47 AM
Answers · 2
5
The difference between 내가/나는 and 제가/저는 is honorifics; usage depends on who you are speaking to. Speaking informally to somebody your age or younger, you would use 내가/나는. Speaking formally to somebody older, you would use 제가/저는.
은/는 is the topic particle, 이/가 is the subject particle and usage depends on your sentence structure.
November 3, 2011
4
나는, 저는, and 제가 all mean I (我). 네가 is you, not I.
Actually, only '나' and '저' are 'I' in English, and '는' and '가' are a subjective particle.
More exactly '는' is called a topic particle or something else. Anyway, whatever it is named, it is true that one of the '는''s roles is to assign a subjective case to a noun. I won't go into deeper with this matter here.
저 is a polite word of 나. When we speak to the elder or a stranger, we use 저 instead of 나.
제 is a variant of 저. We use 제 when the subjective particle 가 is followed.
저가 (x) 제가 (o)
November 3, 2011
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Nelly Chu
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), English, Korean
Learning Language
Korean
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