[Grammar] KoreanSentence Structure

 

1. Korean Sentence Structure

There are lots of particles in Korean such as the subject particle, the object particle, the place particle, the time particle and the destination particle etc. What are particles’ function? Particles tell us constituents of a sentence, which means particles tell us which one is a subject, an object, place, time or a destination. In English, it is similar to preposition.

 

Korean sentences consis of either "a subject + Predicate (verb)' or "a subject + object + predicate (verb)."

 

2. Particles 

Particles are attached to words in Korean stences. They express the role that their repective words play in the sentence. After the subject of a sentence, the particle 이 or 가 is used. After an object, the particle 을 or 를 is used. And after an adverbial, particles such as 에 and 에서 are used.

For example,

 

- 에릭이  가요.

subject + predicate

(Eric goes.)

 

- 에릭이 자요.

subject + predicate

(Eric sleeps.)

 

- 엄마 딸 사랑해요 (mom, daughter, love)

In this sentence, I can’t tell who love whom. So we need particles like this,

엄마가 딸을 사랑해요. (The mom loves her daughter)

딸이 엄마를 사랑해요. (The daughter loves her mom.)

 

~이 and 가 are subject particles,

~을 and 를 are object particles.

 

- 세라가    사과를      먹어요.

subject + object + predicate

(Sarah eats an apple.)

 

- 로건이 도서관에서 책을 읽어요.

subject        +       object + predicate

(Logan reads a book in the library.)

 

3. others

While the predicate of a Korean sentence always comes at the very end of the sentence. 

Even if the order of words in a sentence changes, we can know the meaning by the role of each of these parts can still be idetified because of the particle attached to it.

 

로건이 도서관에서 책을 읽어요.

= 로건이 책을 도서관에서 읽어요.