Learn how to recognize an implied subject in Korean
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Intro |
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| Michael: Is it common to omit the subject in Korean sentences? |
| Kyejin: And why? |
| Michael: At KoreanClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine this scenario: Seo-young Sin is in a bookstore with her friend, Sasha Lee. She points at a book and says, |
| "[Do you] see that book?" |
| Seo-young Sin: 저 책 보여? (Jeo chaek boyeo?) |
| Dialogue |
| Seo-young Sin: 저 책 보여? (Jeo chaek boyeo?) |
| Sasha Morris: 그거 재미있어? (Geugeo jaemiisseo?) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Seo-young Sin: 저 책 보여? (Jeo chaek boyeo?) |
| Michael: "[Do you] see that book?" |
| Sasha Lee: 그거 재미있어? (Geugeo jaemiisseo?) |
| Michael: "Is it interesting?" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: It's common to omit the subject in some instances in "pro-drop languages." In pro-drop languages, omitting the subject, which is often the pronoun, does not affect the message being conveyed by the speaker. English is not necessarily a pro-drop language, although, in imperative sentences, subject pronouns are almost always dropped. Korean, on the other hand, is one of the major languages that can be considered a pro-drop language, as it allows for deletion not just for subjects, but also for other sentence components like particles based on the grammatical and semantic context. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue and find the missing component. |
| Do you remember how Seo-young Sin says, "[Do you] see that book?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Kyejin: 저 책 보여? (Jeo chaek boyeo?) |
| Michael: The original sentence including the omitted particle is: |
| Kyejin: 저 책이 보여? (Jeo chaegi boyeo?) |
| Michael: First, we have |
| Kyejin: 저 (jeo), |
| Michael: a determiner, followed by |
| Kyejin: 책 (chaek), |
| Michael: a noun meaning "book." |
| Then, the subject marking particle |
| Kyejin: 이(i), |
| Michael: which follows words that end with consonants |
| Finally, we have |
| Kyejin: 보여? (boyeo?) |
| Michael: an inquisitive phrase asking if something can "be seen." |
| Michael: In colloquial Korean, however, we stated that particles are often omitted, as native Koreans assume that the listener knows which particle is omitted—which is why we have the sentence |
| Kyejin: 저 책 보여? (Jeo chaek boyeo?) |
| Michael: In this scenario, it is clear that the speakers are talking to each other. The context is obvious too. They are inside of a bookstore together, and Seo-young Sin is addressing no other person but Sasha Lee. In this case, Seo-young Sin didn't have to mention one of the subjects, "너" (neo) which means "you." |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now let's take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Sasha Lee says, "[Is] it interesting?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Kyejin: 그거 재미있어? (Geugeo jaemiisseo?) |
| Michael: The original sentence, which includes the particles that were omitted would be: |
| Kyejin: 그것은 재미있어요? (Geugeoseun jamiesseoyo?) |
| Michael: First, we have |
| Kyejin: 그거 (geugeo), |
| Michael: a colloquial version of the pronoun |
| Kyejin: 그것(geugeot), |
| Michael: which literally translates to "that/this" but can be used as "it." |
| Next, we have the topic marking particle |
| Kyejin: 은(eun), |
| Michael: which comes after words that end with consonants followed by |
| Kyejin: 재미있어요? (jamiesseoyo?) |
| Michael: The informal formal inquisitive form of the adjective |
| Kyejin: 재미있다 (jamiitda), |
| Michael: which means "fun." However, as we mentioned, in colloquial Korean, particles are often omitted, which is why we have the sentence |
| Kyejin: 그거 재미있어? (Geugeo jaemiisseo?) |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: We've learned in this lesson that Korean is a pro-drop language. This means that subjects and objects can be dropped in a sentence without the message losing its meaning. Let's take a look at some more sentences where the subject can be dropped. Here's the first one: |
| Kyejin: 학교에 갔어요. (hakgyoue gasseoyo.) |
| Michael: This translates to "went to school." Properly translated, this will be "I went to school." Let's take a look at another example: |
| Kyejin: 학교에 갔어요. (hakgyoue gasseoyo.) |
| Michael: The original form of this sentence would be: |
| Kyejin: 저는 학교에 갔어요. (Jeoneun hakgyoue gasseoyo.) |
| Michael: You can see that the speaker omitted the personal pronoun |
| Kyejin: 저는 (jeoneun) |
| Michael: or "I." As this is a colloquial sentence and personal pronouns, as well as particles, are often omitted in Korean |
| Kyejin: 학교 (hakgyou), |
| Michael: or "school" followed by the location marking particle |
| Kyejin: 에(e). |
| Michael: Then, |
| Kyejin: 갔어요 (gasseoyo) |
| Michael: is a declarative past polite form of the verb |
| Kyejin: 가다(gada), |
| Michael: which means "to go." But, as native Koreans omit particles in sentences, we see |
| Kyejin: 학교 갔어요. (hakgyou gasseoyo.) |
| Michael: "I went (to) school." The next sentence is |
| Kyejin: 못 했어요. (Mot haesseoyo.) |
| Michael: What the speaker wants to say is "I couldn't do it." However, since the subject can be dropped, it now sounds like "Couldn't do." |
| Michael: The original sentence would be: |
| Kyejin: 저는 그것을 못 했어요. (Jeoneun geugeoseul mot haesseoyo.) |
| Michael: You can see here that both the topic and the object of the sentence were omitted in the simplified sentence. In the original sentence, first, there is |
| Kyejin: 저는 (jeoneun), |
| Michael: which means "I," followed by the pronoun |
| Kyejin: 그것(geugeot), |
| Michael: which literally translates to "that/this" but can be used as "it." |
| Then, we have the object marking particle |
| Kyejin: 을 (eul) |
| Michael: followed by the adverb |
| Kyejin: 못 (mot), |
| Michael: meaning "could not." Then, |
| Kyejin: 했어요 (haesseoyo), |
| Michael: the declarative past informal formal form of the verb |
| Kyejin: 하다 (hada), |
| Michael: or "do." But, as native Koreans try to simplify their sentences as much as possible, we see the simplified sentence: |
| Kyejin: 못 했어요. (Mot haesseoyo.) |
| Michael: "(I) couldn't do (it)." |
| Kyejin: 못 했어요. (Mot haesseoyo.) |
| Michael: Now, let's look at the third and final sentence in our example: |
| Kyejin: 어디 가요? (Eodi gayo?) |
| Michael: This means, "Where are you going?" Again, since it's okay to drop the subject, it will read as "Where go?" |
| Kyejin: 어디 가요? (Eodi gayo?) |
| Michael: Here, the original sentence is: |
| Kyejin: 당신은 어디 가요? (Dangsineun eodie gayo?) |
| Michael: Let's break it down. First, we have |
| Kyejin: 당신 (dangsin), |
| Michael: the polite form of "you." Next is the topic marking particle |
| Kyejin: 은(eun) |
| Michael: followed by |
| Kyejin: 어디 (eodi), |
| Michael: a pronoun meaning "where," then the location particle |
| Kyejin: 에 (e), |
| Michael: then finally |
| Kyejin: 가요 (gayo). |
| Michael: The declarative present informal-formal form of the verb |
| Kyejin: 가다 (gada), "to go." |
| Michael: But, as native Koreans omit particles, we see the sentence |
| Kyejin: 어디 가요? (Eodi gayo?) |
| Michael: (Where (are you) going?) |
| Expansion/Contrast |
| Michael: One thing you need to understand about Korean is that it is a high-context language. Unlike English, it relies heavily on context and non-verbal signs. As a result, pronouns don't seem to be as common in the Korean language as they are in English. Moreover, since in Korean it's possible to drop elements that are obvious based on the context, repeating references may not be necessary at all. This does not mean that pronouns don't exist in the Korean language. We know that they do. They are rarely used, though, except when referring to inanimate objects. These pronouns include |
| Kyejin: 이거 (igeo) |
| Michael: or "This." Let's have a look at how to use it. |
| Kyejin: 이거 맛있어요? (Igeo massisseoyo?), |
| Michael: meaning "Is this tasty?" The next word is |
| Kyejin: 저거 (jeogeo), |
| Michael: meaning "that" referring to something that is far away from both the speaker and listener. Let's take, for instance, the sentence |
| Kyejin: 저거 어때요? (Jeogeo eottaeyo?), |
| Michael: meaning "How about that?" |
| Michael: and |
| Kyejin: 그거 (geugeo), |
| Michael: which is another term for "that" and is used to refer to something that is far away from the speaker but closer to the listener. For example, |
| Kyejin: 그거 주세요. (Geugeo juseyo.) |
| Michael: meaning "Give me that." |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Kyejin: 안녕히 계세요 (annyeonghi gyeseyo) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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