Where things happen: 에서, and 부터 … 까지

Same place, two different endings

도서관 is a library. Now compare: 도서관에 가요 — I go to the library. 도서관에서 공부해요 — I study at the library.

The place is the same; the particle is not. With 가요 the library has 에. With 공부해요 it has 에서. Until now 에 was the only place particle you had. The second one is not interchangeable with it, and the verb decides which you need.

Three more places and what you do there

시장 market: 시장에서 사과를 사요. 공원 park: 공원에서 운동해요. 백화점 department store: 백화점에서 옷을 샀어요.

Each time something is done at the place — buying, exercising — and each time the place has 에서. The last sentence is in the past. The particle is the same; tense changes the verb and nothing else.

백화점 is pronounced [배콰점].

에 for being or arriving, 에서 for doing

친구가 도서관에 있어요 — my friend is at the library. 회사에서 일해요 — I work at a company. English says “at” in both. Korean separates them.

에 marks where something is (있어요, 없어요) or where it is heading (가요, 와요). 에서 marks where an action is carried out: working, studying, eating, buying, meeting. Ask yourself: is someone just there or on the way there, or doing something there?

에서 also means “from”

어디에서 왔어요? — where are you from? 저는 한국에서 왔어요 — I’m from Korea. Literally: where did you come from, I came from Korea.

With verbs of movement the two particles mark the two ends of the journey. 에서 is the starting point and 에 the destination. So 한국에서 왔어요 is “came from Korea”, while 한국에 왔어요 is “came to Korea”. One syllable reverses the direction.

From a time until a time: 부터 … 까지

아홉 시부터 여섯 시까지 일해요 — I work from nine to six. 부터 marks the start and 까지 marks the end. Each attaches to its time word, the way 에 does, and replaces it: there is no 에 in this sentence.

Also new: the noun 일, “work”. You already know it from inside 일해요. 오늘 일이 많아요 — I have a lot of work today.

일 “work” and the number 일 “one” are spelled alike. Context tells them apart.

Between two places: 에서 … 까지

점심시간은 한 시부터 두 시까지예요 — the lunch break is from one to two. A range can end the sentence too: 까지 is followed directly by 예요.

For a distance between two places, the start takes 에서, the “from” you just learned, and the end takes 까지: 집에서 학교까지 십 분이에요 — it is ten minutes from home to school. So: times with 부터 … 까지, places with 에서 … 까지.