Nominative Case in Korean

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Noun, Pronoun + /

이 - if a word ends in a consonant, 가 - if ends in a vowel

From the previous lesson's examples, you might have noticed that either -이 or -가 is attached to nouns and pronouns.

See the following examples:

I am reading.

He is looking.

The weather is warm.

That book is interesting.

The words "I", "he", "weather", "book" are the subjects.

In the Korean language, -이 / -가 are used to indicate the subject of the sentence. Simply speaking, subject is the main noun or pronouon.

See examples,
(click on translation and grammar buttons)

비가 옵니다.

Korean

오다

English

rain

to come

It's raining. (literally: Rain comes)

오+ㅂ니다.

가방이 큽니다.

Korean

가방

크다

English

bag

big

The bag is big.

가방 크+ㅂ니다.

기분이 좋습니다.

Korean

기분

좋다

English

mood

good

to be in a good mood. (literally: Mood is good)

기분습니다.

우리가 먹습니다.

Korean

우리

먹다

English

we

to eat

We're having a meal. (literally: We eat.)

우리습니다.

Quick reference (click to open)

Vowels: a, e, i, o, u

Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j

Syllable: Bra-zil (2 syllables), Ar-gen-ti-na (4), In-di-a (3), Viet-nam (2), thin-king (2), beau-ti-ful (3), good (1)

Batchim: is a final consonant in a syllable. → Bra-zil (batchim: 'l'), Ar-gen-ti-na (batchims: 'r' and 'n'), In-di-a ('n'), Viet-nam ('t', 'm')

Romanization: is a conversion of text (not pronunciation ! ) from different writing system (Korean, Arabic, Russian, etc.) to the Roman (Latin) alphabet.

IPA: is an alphabetic system of phonetic (pronunciation) notation.

Noun: road, user, sister, table, sky

Pronoun: I, my, we, you, they, her

Verb: to go, to study, to think, to feel

Adjective: cold, kind, hungry, curious, expensive

Adverb: quickly, nicely, never, exactly, urgently

Preposition: from, to, on, in, with, till

Conjuction: and, because, if, but, while

Declarative sentence: I learn Korean.

Interrogative sentence: Do you learn Korean?

Imperative sentence: You must learn Korean!

Exclamative sentence: Wow, you learn Korean!

Verb / Adj. stem in Korean: part of a verb or adj. which is left after removing the last syllable -다 ( e.g. 가다 → 가, 예쁘다 → 예쁘, 듣다 → 듣 ).