How Korean packages meaning

Korean verbs have zero person/number inflection. "먹어요" means "eat" whether the subject is I, you, he/she/they, or we. This is similar to Japanese.

The subject particle has two forms determined by phonology: 가 (ga) after a vowel-final syllable, 이 (i) after a consonant-final syllable. This allomorphy applies to many Korean particles.

The pronoun for "I" changes by register: 나 (na, casual) → 저 (jeo, polite/humble). The contracted subject forms are 내가 and 제가. This pronoun shift is not optional — using 나 with formal speech is a social error.

The particle 이/가 marks the grammatical subject but also carries an information-structure meaning (new/focused information) — see the Information Structure dimension for the 은/는 vs. 이/가 distinction.

The object particle has two allomorphs: 을 (eul) after a consonant, 를 (reul) after a vowel. Similarly, 에게 (ege, formal/written) and 한테 (hante, casual/spoken) both mark the recipient of an action.

Because particles mark roles, word order before the verb is quite free. "친구에게 책을 줬어요" and "책을 친구에게 줬어요" mean the same thing — the particles identify the roles regardless of position.

When the recipient is someone deserving respect, both the particle and the verb change: 에게 → 께 (honorific dative), and 주다 (give) → 드리다 (humble give). This double-marking of social relationships is characteristic of Korean.

The past-tense suffix follows vowel harmony: -았- after stems containing bright vowels (ㅏ, ㅗ), -었- after all others. This is automatic: 가다 (go) → 갔어요, 먹다 (eat) → 먹었어요.

Korean has a double-past form -았/었었- that marks remote past or "had done": 먹었었어요 (had eaten). This is less common in speech than simple past.

The two future constructions differ in nuance: -(으)ㄹ 거예요 is the everyday colloquial future (plan or prediction), while -겠- is more formal and can also express the speaker's volition or inference ("I intend to" / "it seems like it will").

Time adverbs (어제 yesterday, 오늘 today, 내일 tomorrow, 지금 now) supplement tense marking but are not required — tense is always grammatically encoded on the verb.

Korean aspect is expressed entirely through auxiliary constructions, not affixes. The main verb takes a linking form (-고 or -아/어) and the auxiliary verb (있다, 버리다, etc.) carries the aspect meaning.

-고 있다 with action verbs (먹다 eat, 읽다 read) means progressive ("is doing"). With some intransitive change-of-state verbs, -아/어 있다 marks a resultative state: 앉아 있다 (is sitting — in the state of having sat down).

-아/어 버리다 (completive) carries a pragmatic overtone of finality — something was done completely, often with regret ("I accidentally ate it all") or relief ("I finally finished it"). The overtone depends on context.

Korean has no equivalent of the Spanish preterite/imperfect split — the bare past -었- is neutral about whether the event was ongoing or completed.

Korean has no subjunctive mood. Where Spanish triggers a different set of verb endings after desire, doubt, or emotion, Korean uses separate constructions: -고 싶다 (I want to…), -(으)ㄹ 수 있다 (can/might), -(으)ㄹ까요? (shall we?), -겠- (volition/supposition).

The four sentence types (declarative, interrogative, imperative, propositive) each have distinct endings at every speech level, producing a 4×4+ matrix of verb forms. In 해요체 (polite level), declarative and interrogative share the same ending -어요 and are distinguished only by intonation; in 합쇼체 (formal level), they differ: -ㅂ니다 (declarative) vs. -ㅂ니까 (interrogative).

Propositive (let's) is a fully distinct sentence type with its own endings: 먹읍시다 (formal "let's eat"), 먹자 (casual "let's eat"). This has no direct equivalent in English grammar.

The connective ending -(으)면 (if/when) is Korean's main conditional — there is only one conditional form, unlike Japanese which has four (-ば, -たら, -なら, -と).

Short negation (안) is more common in casual speech; long negation (-지 않다) is preferred in formal writing and for emphasis. Both are grammatical in all contexts.

For 하다 compound verbs, short negation splits the compound: 공부하다 (study) → 공부 안 했어요 (didn't study). Long negation keeps the verb whole: 공부하지 않았어요.

Inability negation 못 applies only to action verbs, not to descriptive verbs (adjectives). You cannot say *못 예쁘다 (can't be pretty) — only 안 예뻐요 (is not pretty).

Prohibition uses the special verb 말다 (to not do): -지 마세요 (polite "please don't"), -지 마 (casual "don't"), -지 마십시오 (formal "do not"). This is the only way to form negative imperatives.

Korean has four passive suffixes (이, 히, 리, 기) that are lexically assigned — you must memorize which verb takes which suffix. Not all verbs have a suffix passive form.

The -아/어지다 construction is a productive (universal) analytical passive: 주다 (give) → 주어지다 (be given), 만들다 (make) → 만들어지다 (be made). This works with verbs that lack a suffix passive.

Passive voice is generally avoided in natural Korean speech — active sentences are strongly preferred. Using excessive passives can sound unnatural or overly formal.

Causative works similarly: lexical suffixes (먹다 → 먹이다 feed, 보다 → 보이다 show) for some verbs, and the productive -게 하다 (make/let someone do) for any verb. For 하다 compounds, 시키다 replaces 하다: 공부하다 → 공부시키다 (make study).

Korean's evidential markers are grammaticalized sentence-final endings, more integrated into the grammar than Japanese's optional auxiliaries, but not obligatory the way Turkish -di/-miş is.

The hearsay marker -대(요) is a contraction of -다고 해(요) (literally "they say that…"). The quotation system as a whole functions as an evidential system: -대요 (declarative hearsay), -(이)래요 (copula hearsay), -(으)래요 (imperative hearsay), -냬요 (interrogative hearsay), -재요 (propositive hearsay).

The retrospective -더- (-deo-) marks events the speaker directly witnessed or experienced in the past. It carries a sense of recollection: "now that I think back, I observed that…"

Mirative forms (-군요/-구나/-네요) mark the speaker's spontaneous realization. -군요 is a calm "oh I see," while -네요 marks surprise or something contrary to expectation.

Korean has a three-way demonstrative system based on distance: 이 (near speaker), 그 (near listener or previously mentioned), 저 (far from both). This extends to pronouns (이것/그것/저것), locations (여기/거기/저기), and adverbs (이렇게/그렇게/저렇게).

그 is the most versatile demonstrative — it often functions like a weak definite article for previously mentioned referents: "그 사람" (that person / the person we were talking about). Linguists debate whether 그 is evolving into a definite article.

Specificity is handled pragmatically through the topic particle 은/는. A noun marked with 은/는 is usually interpreted as definite/known: "책은 좋아요" (the book is good — the one we're talking about). A noun with 이/가 often introduces new information.

Classifiers with numerals also carry weak specificity: "책 한 권" (one book) is more specific than bare "책," somewhat like English "a" but with an obligatory counter.

Korean has two complete number systems: Native Korean (하나, 둘, 셋, 넷, 다섯…) used with most counters and for ages, and Sino-Korean (일, 이, 삼, 사, 오…) used for dates, money, minutes, phone numbers, and some counters. Learners must know both.

Native Korean numerals contract before counters: 하나 → 한, 둘 → 두, 셋 → 세, 넷 → 네, 스물 → 스무. This contraction is obligatory.

Counter classifiers are obligatory when counting — dozens of counters exist: 권 (bound volumes), 명 (people), 마리 (animals), 대 (vehicles/machines), 장 (flat objects), 잔 (cups/glasses). The general counter 개 is used for miscellaneous objects.

The plural suffix -들 is optional and far less obligatory than in English. It applies most naturally to people (학생들 students, 사람들 people) but is unusual or ungrammatical with inanimate objects in many contexts. Korean treats plurality as a background assumption supplied by context.

The possessive particle 의 is pronounced /e/ in casual speech, not /ɰi/ as the spelling suggests. In very casual speech it is often dropped entirely: "나 책" (my book) instead of "나의 책" or "내 책."

Contracted possessive pronouns: 나의 → 내 (my, casual), 저의 → 제 (my, humble), 너의 → 네 (your, casual). Since 내 and 네 sound nearly identical in Seoul Korean, 네 is often pronounced 니 to avoid confusion.

Korean does not distinguish alienable from inalienable possession — "내 손" (my hand) and "내 책" (my book) use the same construction.

Like Japanese の, 의 is a general linker beyond possession: "한국의 문화" (Korean culture), "수학의 원리" (principles of math). The relationship is inferred from the nouns.

-에 and -에서 both translate as "at/in" but encode different spatial relationships: -에 marks static location (서울에 있다 = be in Seoul) and destination (학교에 가다 = go to school). -에서 marks the location where an activity occurs (학교에서 공부하다 = study at school) and the source of motion (서울에서 왔어요 = came from Seoul).

-(으)로 marks direction (집으로 가다 = go toward home), means/instrument (버스로 가다 = go by bus), and material (나무로 만들다 = made of wood). After ㄹ-final syllables, only -로 is used.

Directional verbs encode "toward speaker" vs. "away from speaker": 가다 (go — away) vs. 오다 (come — toward). These combine with other verbs: 가지고 가다 (take away) vs. 가지고 오다 (bring here).

Korean does not encode elevation distinctions (uphill/downhill) the way Quechua or Tibetan do. Spatial descriptions use the general system of location particles plus positional nouns (위 above, 아래 below, 안 inside, 밖 outside, 앞 front, 뒤 behind).

은/는 and 이/가 are not interchangeable — they carry fundamentally different discourse functions. 은/는 sets the topic ("speaking of X, here is a comment about X"). 이/가 introduces new information or identifies/focuses ("it is X that…"). This mirrors Japanese は/が exactly.

은/는 has two allomorphs: 은 after a consonant-final syllable, 는 after a vowel-final syllable. The topic particle can override other particles: "서울에서 공부해요" (I study in Seoul) → "서울에서는 공부해요" (As for in Seoul, I study — 는 added after 에서). But 은/는 replaces 이/가 and 을/를 entirely.

Contrastive 은/는 implies "but not something else": "시장에서는 먹었어요" (At the market I ate [but elsewhere I didn't / unlike other places…]). This contrastive implication is always present with 은/는, though sometimes weakly.

Korean is "topic-prominent" — most sentences begin with a 은/는-marked topic that sets the frame. The topic need not be the grammatical subject: "이 책은 표지가 예뻐요" (As for this book, the cover is pretty) — "this book" is the topic, "the cover" is the subject.

Korean register operates on three independent axes that combine: (1) Speech level = respect toward the listener/addressee (verb endings: 해체/해요체/합쇼체/해라체), (2) Subject honorification = respect toward who is being talked about (-시- suffix), (3) Humble/exalting vocabulary = lowering oneself (드리다, 뵙다, 여쭙다) or elevating others (잡수시다, 주무시다, 계시다). These three axes are independent.

Some verbs have entirely different honorific and humble replacements: 먹다/마시다 (eat/drink, plain) → 드시다/잡수시다 (eat, honorific) → no humble form needed. 주다 (give) → 주시다 (give, honorific subject) → 드리다 (give, humble). 자다 (sleep) → 주무시다 (sleep, honorific). These are different vocabulary items, not morphological variants.

The pronoun for "I" shifts with register: 나 (na, casual) → 저 (jeo, polite/humble). Possessives shift accordingly: 내 (my, casual) → 제 (my, humble). Using the wrong pronoun with the wrong speech level is a social error.

Honorific nouns exist for certain concepts: 밥 → 진지 (meal), 이름 → 성함 (name), 나이 → 연세 (age), 집 → 댁 (house), 사람 → 분 (person), 생일 → 생신 (birthday), 말 → 말씀 (speech). These are used when speaking about or to someone who deserves respect.

Register errors are among the most socially costly mistakes a learner can make — using casual speech with a boss or elder is far more jarring than a grammar mistake.