For the last two weeks, we only had one class since the last week was finals week. We learned some more grammar related to particles. -은 is topic marking particle used with words ending with a final consonant. -는 is topic marking particle used with words ending with a vowel. -이 is subject marking particle used with words ending with a final consonant. -가 is subject marking particle used with words ending with a vowel.
We went through the examples on the sheet and some other examples we can think of to understand the difference between the particles. I think the difference between these two types of particles is the hardest grammar I learned this semester.
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. The subject of the sentence is not always the topic. For example, in the sentence “오늘은 날씨가 좋아요.” subject of the sentence is 날씨 (Weather) while the topic of the sentence is 오늘 (Today). The subject of a sentence can also be the topic of the sentence and vice versa. In fact, in most of the situations 은/는 and 이/가 are interchangeable. ‘이것은 책입니다’ and ‘이것이 책입니다’ are pretty much the same thing. There are some situations when I can use any one of these particles but even if I use the wrong one, it won’t affect the meaning of the sentence that much.
There are a couple good rules that helped me:
1 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.
2 When you want to show contrast or emphasise a noun, you should use 은/는. For example – 품질이 좋은데 가격은 너무 비싸요. (Quality is good but the price is too expensive.)
3 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.
4 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.
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