Learn why Koreans drop particles
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| Hi everybody! Jae here. Welcome to Ask a Teacher where I’ll answer some of your most common Korean questions. |
| The question for this lesson is…Why Do Koreans Drop Particles When They’re Speaking? |
| Particles are a pretty big challenge for Korean learners, but don’t worry! Koreans actually drop them a lot of the time. |
| Let’s use 나는 이 음식이 좋아요 (naneun i eumsig-i joayo) as an example. 나는 이 음식이 좋아요 (naneun i eumsig-i joayo) means, “I like this food,” in Korean. In this sentence, 는 (neun) and 이 (i) are the particles. |
| But when you hear a native Korean speaker say this sentence, he or she will usually just say 나 이 음식 좋아요 (na i eumsig joayo), without the particles. You don't need them to make the meaning of the sentence clear. |
| Here's another example. If you want to comment on someone’s height, you could say: 그 사람은 키가 커요 (geu sarameun kiga keoyo) which means, “He’s tall.” |
| However, if you want to sound more natural, you can say: 그 사람 키 커요 (geu saram ki keoyo.) Here, the particles 은 (eun) and 가 (ga) are omitted. |
| Please remember, though, that in formal situations it's best to use the particles. Although it does sound more natural to omit them when talking to friends, you'll want to be careful with your boss or teachers. |
| Learning the particles is important for understanding sentence structure in Korean. But once you’ve mastered them, you may want to practice leaving them out. See how you sound! |
| I hope that clears things up. Pretty interesting, right? |
| Do you have any more questions? Leave them in the comments below and I’ll try to answer them! |
| See you next time. 다음 시간에 만나요. (Daeum-sigane mannayo.) |
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