For the class on March 27th, me and my language partner extended our conversation on sentence structure. Normally, Korean sentences consist of either a “subject + verb” or a “subject + object + verb." And there are way more structure rules than this. For example, when describing one person is at some places, the sentence will be "지금 용준이는 여자친구 집에 있어요," meaning the person is at a place now. Here the structure is " Time + Subject + Place + Verb." And when describing possession, we will use the possessive particle 의. The example could be, "샘의 동생 ," meaning Sam's brother.
However, the most confusing part comes when comparing topic particles -- 은/는 -- and subject particles --이/가. The confusing thing is that topic and subject are sometimes not clearly distinguishable. The person or thing that is the main focus of the sentence is called the topic but the subject of the sentence is not always the topic. The example we used were the following two sentences:
강아지가 애교가 많아요 (Topic- verb)
강아지는 애교가 많아요 (Subject- descriptive)
For me, the only difference is the 가 and 는 in the two sentences while their meanings are pretty much the same. And if you use a translator, you could find the meaning is the same -- Puppies have a lot of charm. And in fact, these particles are interchangeable in some situations, which makes the differentiation even harder. However, I managed to understand a little bit more when comparing the following two sentences:
용준이가 많이 놀아요 (Topic- Verb)
Raymond plays a lot
용주이는 많이 노는걸 좋아요 (Subject- Descriptive)
Raymond likes to play a lot (As for Raymond, he plays a lot)
From this, I could tell that when using topic particles, the main thing is to describe the topic which is "Raymond plays a lot" but not merely "Raymond." On the other side, when using subject particles, the main topic is "Raymond" and subject particles are used to describe a subject not a "thing." Fortunately, because these particles are interchangeable, using the wrong particle won't make the sentence incomprehensible and people will still be able to understand even though there are situations where you have to use one particle than the other.
Finally, I've done some searches based on this topic and I found the formal interpretation and explanation on how should we distinguish between particles:
- When it’s a negative sentence with verb ‘to be’ (아닙니다 or 아니에요 i.e. is/am/are + not), you always have to use 이/가 with the preceding noun. Ex: 이것은 책이 아니에요.
- If you are using 있다/없다 you should always use 이/가 with the noun before it. Ex: i) 펜이 있어요? ii) 저는 내일 시간이 없어요.
- Generally when there are two nouns in a sentence and a descriptive verb (or adjective) has been used, use 은/는 with the first noun and 이/가 with the second. Ex: 오늘은 날씨가 좋아요. 이 식당은 음식이 맛있어요.
- When you want to show contrast or emphasize a noun, you should use 은/는. For example – 품질이 좋은데 가격은 너무 비싸요. (Quality is good but the price is too expensive.)
However, these rules are simplified and there are even more complicated rules. But mastering these rules could be enough to handle conversations in most situations.
Comments
I found this part of Korean grammar very similar to Japanese grammar, which makes it a lot easier for me to understand. However, there is still a lot of memorization, for example, the conjugation changes as the name changes, and there is a lot of irregular one. This is one of the major differences between Korean and Japanese.