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twiceasleep
Can someone please explain Topic and Object particles to me? give me an example.
Mar 17, 2013 10:51 PM
Answers · 1
4
Hi, I have mixed feelings about Topic and Object particles in Korean. It's the first thing a person learns when they start to learn Korean, but in reality 90% of the time, they are omitted anyway in everyday conversations. You'll find a numerous web pages and blog articles explaining this concept simply by googling "Korean topic particles," so I'll just try to put it in a nutshell for you. In English, the sentence order is Subject + Verb + Object "I hate cinnamon." In Korean, it is normally Subject + Object + Verb "I cinnamon hate." Confusing, right? So we throw in "particles" to distinguish a subject from an object. "I[topic particle] cinnamon[object particle] hate." [Topic Particle] 은 -eun (when the subject ends in a consonant) b p t k ... 는 -neun (when the subject ends in a vowel) a e i o u.. [Object Particle] 을 -eul (when the object ends in a consonant) b p t k.. 를 -reul (when the object ends in a vowel) a e i o u .. Actually, there's a third thing called "Subject Particles" but you don't really use them unless you REALLY want to emphasize that it's NONE OTHER THAN THE SUBJECT ITSELF that you're talking about. So we'll just stick with the topic particles for now. English - Korean - Korean transcription I - na - 나 cinnamon - gyepi - 계피 hate - sireohae - 싫어해 So if you put them together, "Na-neun Gyepi-reul sileohae." 나는 계피를 싫어해 Got it? BUT, Like I said, they're omitted 90% of the time anyway... so if you're watching a K-drama, talking with a korean friend, etc. chances are you'll just hear Na gyepi sileohae. 나 계피 싫어해. Hope this clarified your question.
March 18, 2013
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