Features
School grammar classes particles as relational words among Korean's nine parts of speech. They attach to the preceding word, and only the copula ida inflects. Forms vary with a final consonant: i/ga, eul/reul, eun/neun, wa/gwa.
Case particles
- Nominative: i/ga, honorific kkeseo, eseo for organisations.
- Accusative: eul/reul.
- Genitive: ui.
- Adverbial: e (place, time), eseo (place of action, origin), ege/hante/kke, (eu)ro (direction, means), wa/gwa (comparison, company), cheoreom, boda.
- Vocative: a/ya.
- Complement: i/ga before doeda and anida.
- Copula: ida.
Auxiliary particles
eun/neun (topic, contrast), do (also), man (only), kkaji, jocha, majeo (even), buteo (from), mada (every) and (i)na add meaning regardless of case and can stack after case particles.
Conjunctive particles
wa/gwa is written; hago and (i)rang are spoken. Linking ("Cheolsu and Yeonghui came") differs from the comitative use ("Cheolsu fought with Yeonghui").
i/ga versus eun/neun
i/ga marks new information or focus on the subject; eun/neun marks a known topic or contrast. In answer to "Who came?", only "Minsu-ga" is natural. This is one of the hardest points for learners.
Omission and errors
Subject and object particles are often dropped in speech. Learners commonly confuse e and eseo, and eul/reul with i/ga (joda vs joahada).
References
- 남기심·고영근 (1993). 『표준국어문법론』(개정판). 탑출판사.
- 국립국어원 (2005). 『외국인을 위한 한국어 문법 1: 체계 편』. 커뮤니케이션북스.
- Sohn, H.-M. (1999). The Korean Language. Cambridge University Press.