Korean lessons: Lesson 8
Who, What, Where?
| Q: 누구 세요? Who is it?
|
A: 순이이에요. It's Sun-i.
|
| Q: 누구를
만나요? Whom are you meeting?
|
A: 순이를 만나요. I meet sun-i.
|
| Q: 무엇이에요? What is it?
|
A: 사과이에요. It is an apple.
|
| Q: 무엇을 좋아하세요? What do you like?
|
A: 사과를 좋아해요. I like apples.
|
| Q: 어디에 있어요? Where is it?
|
A: 서울에 있어요. It is in Seoul.
|
| Q: 어디에 가요? Where are you going?
|
A: 서울에 가요.
I go to Seoul.
|
| 누구 | who |
| 무엇 (often > 뭐 ) | what |
| 어디 | where |
These words are pronouns. They need particles to be
specified for their functions, such as subject, object, adverbial, etc. Although we have
not discussed it in detail, let us learn -을 and -를,
object markers. -을 is used when
there is a final consonant (patch'im) preceding; whereas 를 is for elsewhere. Note that 어디 (where) is also a noun (pronoun), while "where" in English
is not.
| sub. | obj. | |
| what | 무엇이 (= 뭐가 ) | 무엇을 (=뭐를) |
| who | 누구가 (>누가) | 누구를 |
| where | 어디가 | 어디를 |
E.g.
| 무엇이 어려워요? |
What is difficult? |
| 누가 와요? |
Who is coming? |
| 어디가 아파요? |
lit. Where is hurting? (Which part of
your body is hurting?) |
| 무엇을 배워요? |
What do you learn? |
| 누구를 만나요? |
Whom are you meeting? |
| 어디를 때려요? |
Where do I hit? |
For similar reasons, -에 is needed after 어디 in the above dialogues. -에 is a marker that functions like the preposition ('in' or 'to') in English, though they are placed after the noun they work with.
| <English> | <Korean> | |
| in Seoul | = | 서울 에 (Seoul + in) |
We will discuss this in detail later.
