Korean Sentence Structure: 5+ Easy Points To Know
Original Post: https://ling-app.com/ko/korean-sentence-structure/
Interested to learn the intricacies of the Korean sentence structure? We’ve got another cool blog perfect for Korean language learners just like you. I know you all are desperately trying to learn Korean as soon as possible so that you can speak Korean like a native speaker and connect with the locals in a much deeper way. However, this Asian language seems too difficult to master especially since it has a different writing system than the Latin one which we are all used to. To help you all out, learn the basics today in this post.
Basic Korean Sentence Structure
The basic Korean sentence structure has a subject-object-verb (SOV) order. This basic sentence structure is different from the English sentence structure i.e subject-verb-object (SVO) order.
Korean Language And Culture
Korean sentence structure gives a glimpse into Korean culture indicating that in Korean culture the value of the main characters in a certain situation is more important than the action that they are involved in. Therefore, the subject and object are written together while the verb comes afterward.
There is absolutely no way to make sentences in Korean without knowing some vocabulary. All the Korean Language learners should at least know the basic words in the Korean language to make a sentence. But in order to craft complete sentences, you need to learn the common Korean vocabulary and basic Korean words.
To learn basic Korean sentence structures, it is important to have knowledge about Korean grammar and sentence patterns. The basic word order in Korean grammar uses nouns and verbs. In this blog, you will get countless examples using verbs to make sentences.
Most common sentence structures in the Korean language have a typical sentence pattern. That is the subject-object-verb structure. Another Korean sentence structure is a Subject Adjective sentence pattern. This is also the most basic sentence structure. Besides the SVO and SV order, another order is the SA order (Subject-adjective) order in the Korean language. Korean language learners should know how to form a simple sentence using either a verb or an adjective.
Subject
Subject refers to the noun which the entire sentence is about. It is the main component of any sentence. To understand and study the subjects in the Korean language, it is important to first understand them in the English language.
Example
For instance, in the sentence “I am a girl”, the word/ noun “I” is the subject of the sentence since the entire sentence is about “I”. Subject in a Korean sentence is written at the start of the sentence. It is usually marked with a topic marker “은/는” or a subject marker “이/가” with the nouns as subject to be specific.
Table of Basic Korean Sentences Using Subject Marker
Here is a table with example sentences using subjects and their topic marker for you to understand this better.
Combining the subject marker with the subject I “나” becomes “난”. For instance, in the sentence “I like you” i.e “난 너를 좋아해”. However, as a rule of thumb in just remember the “은/는” topic markers or “이/가” subject markers which are used in most of the sentences.
Object
The object is the word/ noun which the subject is usually acting upon. Object refers to the noun that the subject is putting the action on. In basic Korean sentence structures, the objects are placed between the subjects and the verbs.
Example
For instance, in an English sentence (I hit you) “you” is an object since the subject “I” performs the action on “you”, thus becoming the object.
Object Markers (Korean Particles)
To mark the objects in the sentence the Korean particles used are “를/을”. These are the object markers that are present in all the sentences having an object in them.
Table Of Basic Korean Sentences Using Object Particle
Here is a table for you with example sentences using the object particles to understand this better.
Verb
The verb is a word that is used to describe an action. It is an action word. A sentence following an SOV order always has a subject-verb in it. The subject-verb draws the connection between the subject and the object of a sentence.
The verbs mark the sentence endings in the particular sentence pattern. There is no specific marker for the verbs in English however, in Korean the verbs are usually marked with “다”.
Example
For instance, 먹다 (to eat), 앉다 (to sit), 쓰다 (to write), etc.
Table Of Basic Korean Sentences Using Verb Particle
Here is a table for you to understand how the verb markers work better using different verbs.
Subject-Object-Verb Order
In the Subject Object Verb order, the Subject is written first, the object in a sentence comes after that and the Verb follows the entire sentence. It is a very important rule to master since it is the most used Korean language sentence structure in the Korean language.
Table Of Basic Korean Sentences Using SOV Order
Using the markers and examples mentioned earlier, here is a table for you to get the entire sentence using subject object verb order.
Subject-Verb Sentence
There are various cases in which someone asks you a certain question. The question could be about your job, career, hobbies, name, or anything. There are two ways of answering. One way is providing the entire information while the other way is by giving a direct answer.
Example
For instance, “하시는 일이 뭐에요?” (What do you do for a living?). To answer these questions you can give a direct answer and say “나 요리 해” (I cook).
Table Of Basic Korean Sentences Using SV Order
Using the markers and examples mentioned earlier, here is a table for you to get the entire sentence using subject-verb order.
Subject Adjective Sentence
There are various sentences in which there is a subject and adjective only. Such sentences do not have any objects and verbs. Korean sentence structure for such Korean sentences is SA word order (Subject Adjective order). This is the same structure followed by the other Korean sentence structures where Adjective replaces the other parts.
In such a Korean language sentence structure the topic markers and subject markers are still utilized to mark the subject.
Adjectives In The Korean Language
Adjectives refer to the words which provide a description for the nouns. The marker of adjectives is usually the same as that of verbs which is “다”.
Example
For instance, “쓰다” (Bitter), “심심하다” (Bored), and “씩씩하다” (Brave), etc.
Table Of Basic Korean Sentences Using SA Order
Using the marker and examples mentioned, here is a table for you to get the entire sentence using subject adjective order.
Wrapping Up
That’s it for this blog. If you liked this post and had a lot to learn then feel free to check out other blogs by the Ling app. If you want free lessons about spoken language learning or blogs about languages in general, keep visiting the Ling app’s blogs. We provide blogs and tutorials in almost all languages.
If Korean is not your first language and you are interested in learning more about Korean, then make sure to visit Ling app by Simya Solutions. We have also uploaded blogs on Korean alphabets and spelling and 25 cool words in the Korean language. If you want to learn the sentence structures in other languages then feel free to go through the website. For instance, we have created blogs for you on the sentence structure of the Japanese language with many other simple sentences.
