This is probably one of the most difficult topics when it comes to learning Korean. When I have first come across these I was so confused. I could somehow understand the subject and object marking particles, but Topic marking particle was my enemy. I felt like no matter how long I study Korean, I would never come to understand it. Luckily, I was wrong and now I use it to tease my friends! So this means, you can absolutely learn how to use it too!
Before we start, I would like to emphasize that you don’t HAVE to use these. You will be pretty much understood without them. Of course, if you wish to be 100% grammatically correct (especially in writing) it is always good to use them but just like in any other language people can get away with dropping or shortening some words and that is also the case here. So even if you omit them at first, it’s not the end of the world, trust me.
Topic Marking Particle
The topic marking particle is used to mark the topic of a sentence, which is the subject that the speaker wants to talk about.
In the Korean language, a topic marking particle is used to indicate the topic of a sentence. The topic marking particles in Korean are “은” (eun) and “는” (neun). These particles are attached to the end of a noun to signify that the noun is the topic of the sentence.
The choice between “은” (eun) and “는” (neun) depends on the final sound of the noun to which they are attached. If the noun ends in a consonant, “은” (eun) is used. If the noun ends in a vowel, “는” (neun) is used. For example:
- “학생은” (haksaengeun) = “student” (학생 – student)
- “사과는” (sagwaneun) = “apple” (사과 – apple)
The topic marking particle is important in Korean as it sets the stage for what the rest of the sentence will discuss or describe, thereby providing context and emphasis on what the speaker considers important in the conversation.
Conjugation
NOUN + 는/은
- If the noun ends in a vowel, add -는
- If the noun ends in a consonant, add -은
- 저 + 는 = 저는
- 책 + 은 = 책은
- 집 + 은 = 집은
- 여자 + 는 = 여자는
- 학교 + 는 = 학교는
- 물 + 은 = 물은
- 저 (jeo) means “me” and it ends with a vowel so we add ‘는’. 저는 (jeoneun) is easier to pronounce than 저은 (jeoeun) so it becomes 저는.
- 책 (chaek) means “book” and it ends with a consonant so we add ‘은’. 책은 (chaekeun) is easier to pronounce than 책는 (chaekneun) so it becomes 책은.
- 집 (jib) means “house” and it ends with a consonant so we add 은 and it becomes 집은.
- 여자 (yeoja) means “girl” and it ends with a vowel so we add 는 and it becomes 여자는.
- 학교 (hakgyo) means “school” and it ends with a vowel so we add “는” and it becomes 학교는.
- 물 (mul) means “water” and it ends with a consonant so we add “은” and it becomes 물은.
Usage 1
You use it to let the other person know what you are talking about. So let’s say you are talking about dramas and you want to change the topic to music
Person 1) 아 나 그 드라마 너무 재미있게 봤어요. – I really enjoyed that drama.
Person 2) 저도요! 아 그리고 새로운 BTS 노래는 들어봤어요? – Yes me too. Oh and did you hear the new BTS song?
In this example, you are changing the topic of the conversation to the new BTS song. It is absolutely ok to just say “아 그리고 새로운 BTS 노래 들어봤어요?”. The other person will still know what you are talking about, but placing the 은/는 after 노래 indicates that the topic of the conversation has now changed from drama to a song.
Usage 2
You can also use it to say “How about you?” or differentiate between things.
Person 1) 저녁 먹었어? – Did you eat dinner?
Person 2) 아니. 아직 안 먹었어. 너는? – No I didn’t eat yet. You?
In this example “너는” gives a nuance of “How about you?”/ “Did YOU eat?” with only saying one word instead of a whole sentence! Isn’t that fun? Remember, Koreans are always very busy and in a rush (have you ever heard of the expression “빨리 빨리”?). They need to be able to express themselves without having to put a whole sentence together!
Let’s look at another example. Imagine you are shopping with your friend.
Person 1) 이거 어때요? – What about this?
Person 2) 예뻐요. 이거는요? – It’s pretty. How about this?
Similar to the previous example, they were looking at one piece of clothing and now Person 2 is asking, well what about this one?
Usage 3
And lastly my favourite usage of 는/은. You can kind of make fun or joke with your friends.
Person 1) 오늘 내 옷 어때? – What do you think of my clothes today?
Person 2) 응 옷은 오늘 예뻐 – Yes your clothes are pretty today.
By placing 은 after 옷 you are slightly implying that you like their clothes but maybe nothing else like their hair or shoes or makeup.
Also by changing it to 응 오늘은 옷 예뻐 you are implying that TODAY your clothes are pretty but not necessarily on other days.
Check out the below posts that explain subject marking particles and object marking particles.
Difference between topic, subject and object marking particle.
For those of you who are already familiar with these, let’s look at some more examples to understand the difference between these and how they can be used.
The base sentence without any particles we will look at is “오늘 날씨 예뻐요” – The weather is nice today.
Let’s now try to add some particles to it.
- 오늘 날씨가 예뻐요.
- 오늘 날씨는 예뻐요.
- 오늘은 날씨 예뻐요.
- 오늘은 날씨가 예뻐요.
- 오늘이 날씨 예뻐요.
Let’s break these down.
오늘 날씨가 예뻐요 – Here, the subject of the sentence is weather. What is pretty? The weather.
오늘 날씨는 예뻐요 – The subject of the sentence doesn’t change, it still is the weather but instead of “가” we can add “는”, the topic marking particle to let the other person know that the topic of the sentence or the conversation is the weather. The speaker might have also added “는” to the weather to emphasise that maybe only the weather is nice today, not other thing.
오늘은 날씨 예뻐요 – Here, the topic of the sentence is today. If the weather hasn’t been so great lately, the speaker might want to emphasize the fact that today, for a change the weather is nice. Again, the subject hasn’t changed and so we can absolutely say “오늘은 날씨가 예뻐요”. Even the native speakers can choose to drop the marking particles, especially the subject or object as they never change in a sentence (unless of course you change the structure of the sentence itself). However, topic marking particle can be added to more words whereas subject marking particle can only be added to the subject of the sentence and object marking particle can only be added to the object. In this example, we cannot add 을/를 to ANY of these words since there is no object in this sentence. You would need an action verb in a sentence for there to be an object in the sentence.
So, this leaves us with the last example of “오늘이 날씨가 예뻐요”, which is incorrect. We could add 는 to 오늘 but we cannot add 이 to 오늘 simply because that is not the subject of the sentence.
Now let’s have a look at another sample sentence and add some particles to it.
저 그 영화 봤어요 – I saw that movie
- 저는 그 영화를 봤어요
- 제가 그 영화를 봤어요.
- 제가 그 영화는 봤어요.
- 그 영화는 봤어요.
This sample sentence has an object “movie” since we have an action verb “I saw”. What did I see? A movie. So we can only add the object marking particle to the word “영화” because that is the ONLY object of this sentence.
We also have a subject of the sentence “me”. Who saw the movie? I did. So we can add “가” to “저” and it becomes “제가”. (Note that 저 is one of the irregular words that change when you add the subject marking particle at the end).
So, if we do not want to or need to add the topic marking particle to this sentence, it becomes “제가 그 영화를 봤어요”. It doesn’t have other meaning apart from “I saw that movie”. Simple as.
Now, let’s see what happens when we change it and add the topic marking particle.
저는 그 영화를 봤어요. In this sentence, the subject is still me, but maybe the speaker wants to express that the topic of this sentence is “me”, not the movie. We are talking about the fact that “I” saw the movie not that I saw the “movie”. See the small difference? It could also be that another friend has said they have not seen the movie and I want to emphasise that I DID see the movie.
제가 그 영화는 봤어요. In this sentence, we have the subject and marked it with the subject of the sentence. The object again, does not change but instead of adding “를”, we added “는”. Therefore the emphasis is on the “movie”, the movie is the topic of the conversation. The point we are trying to make is that maybe we haven’t seen another movie that might have been discussed but we have seen THIS movie.
In summary, subject and object of the sentence are predetermined by the structure of the sentence but topic marking particle gives us more power over different words to emphasise their meaning and the message we want to convey across.