이/가 은/는

[xflibble]

The usage of 이/가 vs 은/는 marker seems to be the most poorly described. I'd love someone to do a whole lesson on examples and explanations, or point to a reference. I actually found Japanese texts on the equivalent particles more helpful than any Korean study reference. How have other people found it?

[CarlKenner]

Well, I am learning Korean after Japanese.

But if it is like Japanese, then it is basically this:

Normally in Japanese you leave out parts of the sentence if they are already understood or assumed. You can leave out any or every part of the sentence except the verb.

If you include the part of a sentence instead of leaving it out, you need to put a particle after it to say which part of the sentence it is. This particle will be "ga" in Japanese or Korean to mark the subject of the sentence (the part that comes before the verb in English), or "o" (spelt wo) in Japanese and "rul" in Korean to mark the direct object of the sentence (the part that comes after the verb in English). There is also "ni" in Japanese to mark the indirect object of the sentence (the part that comes after "to" in an English sentence, eg. I gave the book to her).

If you include the part of the sentence when you could have omitted it, then it emphasises that part of the sentence.

Because you normally leave out parts of the sentence when the other person knows what you are talking about, the language also needs some way of letting the person know what you will be talking about. For example in Japanese you will normally have a conversation like this:

Let's talk about me. Is Carl. Is a student. Is 29 years old. Let's talk about you. Is a student?

To say "let's talk about...", or "as for...", or (as a question) "how about..." you use the particle "wa" (spelt ha) in Japanese, or "neun" in Korean. It is NOT a part of the sentence. It is something that you say before the start of a sentence, to indicate what the following series of sentences will be about. That is why it always has to come right at the start of a sentence, if you write it as part of the sentence.

Saying "let's talk about me" doesn't indicate which part of following sentences "me" will be. It could be the subject, it could be the object, it could be the indirect object. It also has a certain "on the other hand" implied sometimes, or a feeling like "But as for me...".

Obviously for questions, if you want to say "Who is a student?", you can't say "Let's talk about who.", "Is a student?". You have to say "Who is a student?", including the "who" as the subject by using the "ga" particle.

Other things that you can't use "let's talk about" with include anything that you haven't mentioned yet. For example if you want to say this in English:

A cat and a bird are in the garden. The cat is big. It is eating a bird.

In the first sentence you would use "ga" and leave the subjects in. Then for the second sentence you would say "Let's talk about the cat.", "Is big". Then for the third sentence you would just say "Is eating a bird".

So using "wa" or "neun" is also kind of like the English word "the" in some ways, while leaving out the subject totally is like using the English word "it".

[CarlKenner]

Of course you could also say this:

A cat and a bird are in the gardent. Let's talk about the bird. Is small. Cat is eating [it].

Then in the last sentence you would use "ga" after "Cat" and you would leave out the object (the bird) because it is already understood that you are talking about the bird (being eaten).

If you use "wa"/"neun" on the other hand, you would be saying something quite different. You would be saying "Let's talk about the cat. Is eating." and it is no longer assumed that it is the bird which is being eaten. People would assume that you are no longer talking about the bird, and you have changed the topic, and are now just saying that the cat is eating, without any idea what it is eating.