Level Up Your Grammar Game | 은/ㄴ/는 Beyond Basics (1)

안녕하세요, Precious 입니다. Today we will be learning more functions of 은/는, and how it could be used beyond the initial knowledge of it being a topic particle or being used in comparison and contrast.

Let's briefly recap on the two applications that are usually taught in the beginner stage.

1. Topic/Subject Particle

   1. 동생은 어디있어요? [Where is my brother?]

   2. 저는 대학생이에요. [I am an university student.]

2. Indicating comparison and contrast

   1. 한국에서는 사람들이 김치를 많이 먹어요 [People eat a lot of kimchi in Korea- as compared to other countries]

   2. 이 교실에는 시계를 없어요 [There isn't a clock in this classroom- but there is a clock in another classroom]

   3. 지우 씨는 한국 사람이에요. 마이크 씨는 미국 사람이에요. [Jiwoo is Korean while Mike is American]

Now let's level up and learn two other functions of 은/ㄴ/는.

1. Decorating adjectives and verbs

은/ㄴ is attached to an adjective to decorate the verb and indicates the current state.

When there is a final consonant (받침), we attach 은 to the adjective (형용사).

If there is no final consonant, we attach ㄴ and the adjective will end with final consonant ㄴ.

e.g. 작다 - ends with final consonant ㄱ, so we attach 은 to form 작은.

e.g. 크다 - has no final consonant, so we attach ㄴ to form 큰.

Take Note! For 형용사 with ㄹ 받침, we drop the ㄹ and replace it with ㄴ.

e.g. 형용사: 길다 > 기 + ㄴ > 긴

여자 (예쁘다) > 예쁜 여자

2. Indicate current progression of an incident/action

는 is attached to a verb to describe the noun and indicates the current progression of an incident or action.

For verbs (동사), whether or not there are 받침, we will attach 는 to the verbs.

e.g. 먹다 (with final consonant ㄱ) > 먹는 and 만나다 (no final consonant) > 만나는

Take Note! For 동사 with ㄹ 받침, we drop the ㄹ and replace it with ㄴ. e.g. 동사: 살다 > 사 + 는 > 사는

음악 (듣다) > 듣는 음악

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That's all for now, there are more functions of 은/ㄴ/는 that are more advanced and I will be covering them soon. 다음에 보자!

Precious @to.precious_for.me