Unit 2 · Lesson 3
은/는 and 이/가: what the sentence is about, and who
about 7 min · Goal: Say your nationality, pick 은 or 는 and 이 or 가 by the noun’s last letter, and answer a 누가 question with 이/가
Country + 사람
- 저는 한국 사람이에요I am Korean
- 저는 미국 사람이에요I am American
- 친구는 일본 사람이에요My friend is Japanese
You read 한국, 미국, 일본 and 사람 in unit 1. Put a country in front of 사람, “person”, and you have a nationality: 한국 사람 is literally “Korea person”, a Korean.
The frame is the one from the last lesson: 저는 + noun + 이에요. Because 사람 ends in the consonant ㅁ, the ending here is always 이에요, and it links: 사라미에요. In the third sentence the frame starts with 친구는 instead of 저는.
Do first: Introduce yourself: 저는 …이에요 / 예요
Lesson notes
Everything explained in this lesson, on one page.
Country + 사람
You read 한국, 미국, 일본 and 사람 in unit 1. Put a country in front of 사람, “person”, and you have a nationality: 한국 사람 is literally “Korea person”, a Korean.
The frame is the one from the last lesson: 저는 + noun + 이에요. Because 사람 ends in the consonant ㅁ, the ending here is always 이에요, and it links: 사라미에요. In the third sentence the frame starts with 친구는 instead of 저는.
The piece after the noun: 은 / 는
저는, 친구는, 선생님은. Each sentence opens with a noun plus a small attached piece. That piece tells the listener “this is what I am going to talk about”. In English you would have to say “as for my friend, …”. It is called the topic marker, and it is a particle: a short tag that is glued to the end of a noun.
Its form follows the rule you know from 이에요 / 예요. After a vowel it is 는: 친구는. After a final consonant it is 은, and it links: 선생님은 is said 선생니믄.
“Who is …?” and its answer
Read the two question-and-answer pairs. 누가 선생님이에요? asks “Who is the teacher?” The answer names a person, and that person carries a different tag: 지아 씨가.
In the second pair the answer is 선생님이. Look at the last letter of each noun: 씨 ends in a vowel, and 님 ends in a consonant. You have seen this split twice already. Before the next step, work out which form goes with which.
The piece that answers “who?”: 이 / 가
This second particle is 이 after a final consonant and 가 after a vowel. It marks the person or thing that is the answer.
Compare. 저는 학생이에요: I am already the topic, and the news is “student”. 민수 씨가 학생이에요: “student” is already on the table, and the news is who — Minsu. So a 누가 question is answered with 이 / 가. 누가 itself is 누구 and 가 fused together.
This is a first working rule, not the whole story. The feel for these two particles grows with exposure.
Two questions for a new acquaintance
이름이 뭐예요? is “What is your name?” Word for word it is “name what-is?”, with no “your”, because that is obvious. 어느 means “which”, so 어느 나라 사람이에요? is “a person of which country are you?”
Look at the particles in the first pair. The question has 이름이, because the name is what is being asked for. The answer has 이름은, because the name is now the topic and the news is 민수.
What to remember
- Nationality is country + 사람: 한국 사람, 미국 사람, 일본 사람.
- 은/는 marks what the sentence is about: 은 after a consonant, 는 after a vowel.
- 이/가 marks the one who answers “who?” or “what?”: 이 after a consonant, 가 after a vowel.
- 이름이 뭐예요? asks a name; 어느 나라 사람이에요? asks a nationality.
Easy to mix up
- There are two separate choices: which particle (은/는 or 이/가), and which form (consonant or vowel before it). Wrong form is a spelling slip; wrong particle changes the emphasis.
- Do not answer a 누가 question with 은/는.
- Korean leaves out “my” and “your” when they are obvious: 친구는 can be “my friend”, 이름이 “your name”.