Learning Korean: Classificational Particles

The one thing I dreaded about Korean grammar is roaring its head, but I know the sooner I get them down, the quicker I'll be able to form sentences on my own and do pretty much everything else.

I'm talking about Classificational Particles. English has parts of speech that do some of the same things that classificational particles do in Korean. Korean is basically Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, but the subject and object may move around the verb due to the use of classificational particles, or be dropped alltogether if contextually understood. A noun may NEVER stand alone without a classificational particle. 

Korean also uses particles, rather than separate words, as we do in English, because it is classified as an agglutinative language. That is, morphological markers (prefixes, suffixes, infixes) are attached to base words to alter their meaning. This can be done repeatedly in agglutinative languages. For example, the English sentence "I want to go to the market" is only three words in Korean (also, articles such as "the" do not exist in Korean): 나는 시장에 가고 싶어요 (naneun sijang-e gago sip-eoyo): I(subject) market(object) want(1st person)-go.

There is no true equivalent of particles in English, so if you find yourself confused, I will tell you that this is NOT easy. The Mouse herself is having a little bit of difficulty with this, even though she has worked somewhat with languages that use particles.

It seems that (I say it seems because I have not yet delved deep enough to be 100% sure) most morphemes (the morphological markers mentioned in the paragraph above) are "fixed" to the front of words - i.e. they are prefixes. Classificational markers, on the other hand, are all suffixes.

There are twenty-six distinct classificational particles in Korean (used in thirty-two different functions), though most of them take two forms, based on whether the preceding noun ends with a consonant or vowel sound.

There are six types of classificational particles:
1. Subjective Particle
2. Objective Particle
3. Adjectival Particle
4. Predicative Particle
5. Exclamatory Particle
6. Adverbial Particle

1, 2, and 3 are fairly straightforward. The subjective particle is 이/가 (i/ga), the first after a noun ending in a consonant, the second after a noun ending in a vowel. The objective particle is 을/를 (eul/reul), with the same rule. The adjectival particle is 의 (ui), regardless of of whether the noun ends in a consonant or vowel. The subjective particle makes the noun a subject (MARY went to the store). The objective particle makes the noun the direct object (Mary went to the STORE). The adjectival particle makes the noun function as an adjective, or to make it possessive (MARY'S friend went to the store)

The predicative particle is 이다/다 (ida/da), and makes the noun the predicate. I'll explain this one a bit more in depth, since it is a concept I've noted even native English speakers sometimes have trouble with. We'll use the example "I am a teacher." "Teacher" here is not the object, although it is in direct object position. The verb "am" links the word "teacher" directly back to "I," which means "I" and "teacher" are the same person, and thus "teacher" is a predicate rather than an object (Hence why we would say "I am she" rather than "I am her"). The predicative particle in Korean denotes this relation. (Side note: Korean also does not have relative pronouns, and thus the predicative particle becomes a fairly important part of speech in sentences that would take a relative pronoun in English)

The exclamatory particles are 아/야, 이여/여 (a/ya or iyeo/yeo). The Mouse is not yet entirely sure of the difference between the two, but as far as she can tell, a/ya is used at the end of a name, to indicate that it is a direct address (i.e. you are calling someone's name. You would not just call, "Mary!" but you would call "Mary-ya!"), and the iyeo/yeo used for other exclamations. Again, The Mouse is NOT CERTAIN that this is the distinction, but that is what she can surmise from what she has read so far.

Did you think that was hard? It gets harder. On to adverbial particles! There are eleven of them. The only thing that makes this vaguely easier is that we do have something similar in English. adverbial particles are fixed postpositions, like in function to the prepositions that we use in English.

1. Locative Particle: Destination - 에 (e) (place), 에게, 한테 (ege, hante) (person) - the first is attached to a place, whereas the second two would be attached to a person. These work like “on,” “to,” or “toward,” respectively, and show that an object is going TO this noun as a destination. The noun which takes this particle is the indirect object (or object of the preposition, depending on use). (Mary gave the pencil to HER), (Mary put the pencil ON THE DESK) .

2. Locative Particle: Aspiration - 에, 으로/로 (e, euro/ro) (place), 에게로, 한테로 (egero, hantero) (person) - These work similarly to the destination particle, except that they denote that the noun they are attached to is the eventual destination of the object. There is no exact equivalent to these in English, but they are similar to “toward." (She drove TOWARD THE HOUSE).

3. Locative Particle: Origin - 에서 (eseo) (place), 한테서, 에게서/게서 (hanteseo, egeseo/geseo) (person), 으로부터/로부터 (eurobuteo/robuteo) (place/person) - works similarly to the above two, except that the attached noun is the origin of something, i.e. "from." (I got the pencil FROM HIM), (She came FROM SEOUL).

4. Transition Particle: 으로/로 (euro, ro) - shows that the noun is a product or affect of a transformation, similar to "to," "into," or "become." (Night BECAME DAY).

5. Causation Particle: 으로/로 (euro, ro) - shows that the attached noun is the cause of something, similar to "because of" - (Her ear hurts BECAUSE OF AN INFECTION).

6. Instrumental Particle: Means - 로, 으로서/로서 (ro, euroseo/roseo) - shows that the attached noun is a means to an end, or an instrument in a process. Similar to "with." (He unlocked the door WITH THE KEY).

7. Capacity Particle: 로, 으로써/로써 (ro, eurosseo/rosseo) - shows that the attached noun is working in a certain capacity, similar to "as." (He spoke to me AS A FRIEND, rather than AS A TEACHER).

8. Companion Particle: 와/과, 하고, 랑/이랑 (wa/gwa, hago, ra/ira) - shows that the attached noun is the companion of something or someone. Similar to "with." (She walked there WITH A FRIEND).

9. Quote: Direct Particle: 라고 (rago) - shows that the attached noun (phrase acting as a noun) is a direct quotation. (She said "HELLO.").

10. Comparison Particle: 와/과, 만큼, 보다, 처럼 (wa/gwa, ankeong, boda, cheoreong) - shows that the attached noun is greater than, less than, or equal to another noun. Used like "like," "as," or "than." (His weight is greater THAN MY WEIGHT).

11. Quote: Indirect Particle: 고 (go) - shows that the attached noun (phrase acting as a noun) is an indirect quotation. (She said HELLO.).

PHEW! That was a lot. One of the largest things most speakers of other languages have trouble with in English, even after mastery of much of the language, is the use of prepositions. These are the Korean equivalent.

Learning Korean

So, The Mouse has decided that the next few days will be spent on basic grammar and sentence structure, and then the plan is to memorize 50 words and phrases per day until she leaves for Korea. Hopefully this process will continue while she is in Korea, but she may have to lower that number based on her existing workload.

Very Important Words

Two more:

Korea - 한국 Han-gug
America - 미국 Mi-gug

Random Korean Words

The Mouse is, right now, picking up Korean word by word and phrase by phrase. She knows that the basic word order in Korean is SOV (Linguist's Note: Subject, Object, Verb; as opposed to the English SVO. SOV is the most common word order among the world's languages, and the object follows the subject in approximately 75% of known living languages). Aside from that, and the fact that she knows the alphabet and how to actually combine it to make words, it's slow going for the moment.

Some random Korean words and phrases that The Mouse has picked up:

Demilitarized Zone - 한반도 비무장 지대 hanbando bimujang jidae
Hello (formal) - 안녕 하세요 annyeong haseyo
Hello (informal) - 안녕 annyeong
Please (formal) - 주시기 바랍니다 jusigi balabnida
Please (informal) - 부디budi
Thank you (formal) - 감사합니다 gamsahabnida
Thank you (informal) - 감사 gamsa
Goodbye (formal) - 작별 인사 jagbyeol insa
Goodbye (General, formal) - 안녕히 가세요 annyeonghi gaseyo
Goodbye (informal) - 안녕 annyeong
Friend - 친구 chingu
Yes - 예 ye
No - 아니 ani
I don't know - 나도 몰라 nado molla
Where is the bathroom? - 화장실이 어디 있죠? hwajangsil-i eodi issjyo?
I apologize - 내가 사과 naega sagwa
Teacher - 선생 seonsaeng
I am a teacher - 저는 선생님입니다 jeoneun seonsaengnim-ibnida
Mouse (Computer) - 마우스 mauseu
Mouse (Animal) - 생쥐 saengjwi
Cat - 고양이 goyang-i
Dog - 개 gae
Pencil - 연필 yeonpil