Hangul language has this one prominent characteristic in which its nouns are typically marked by what they called particles. Thus, no other languages even the English do not have the corresponding equivalent to the particles. Korean Hangul has two types of particles: case particles and special particles.
Case Particles
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| Examples of Korean Particles |
Generally, case particles are used to denote the syntactic role of the noun it attaches to (i.e., whether the noun is a subject, an object, indirect object, etc.) and can appear only after a noun. Some of those case particles include subject particle 이/가, object particle 을/를, and so on which will be discussed individually in the next unit lessons. For now, consider this following example,
레오가 농구를 좋아해요 “Leo likes basketball”
레오 is a subject since it is marked by the case particle 가. Meanwhile, 농구 is an object since it is marked by the case particle 를.
Moreover, due to the case particles’ function of denoting the syntactic role of the nouns, the order of the word can be jumbled. For instance,
레오가 농구를 좋아해요 “Leo likes basketball”
농구를 레오가 좋아해요 “Leo likes basketball”
Notice that the aforementioned two sentences have the same meaning even if the word order in both sentences particularly 레오 (subject) and 농구 (object) is different.
Special Particles
The other type of particles is special particles; its function is to add special meanings of the noun to which they are attached. Such function includes denoting the noun as a topic of the sentence (i.e., the topic particle 은/는), emphasizing the singularity of a noun (i.e., the particle 만 “just/only”), and so on. Consider this following instance,
대한민국은 커피 가게가 인기예요 “As for South Korea, coffee shop is popular”
Notice that 커피 가게 is the subject of the sentence since it is marked by the subject particle 가, while 대한민국 is not the subject but the topic of the sentence since it is marked by the topic particle 은.
Unlike case particles, a special particle can appear in one of three places in a sentence. First, it can appear in place of case particle. Consider these following instances,
요즘 제 인생이 힘들어요 “My life is hard these days”
요즘 제 인생은 힘들어요 “As for my life, (it) is hard these days”
한나가 요리사이에요 “Hanna is a cook”
한나는 요리사이에요 “As for Hanna, (she) is a cook”
Notice that the special topic particle 은/는 appear where you will anticipate the subject case particle 이/가. Aside from that, a special particle (e.g., topic particle은/는) can also appear where you will anticipate the object case particle 을/를. Consider the following sentences,
잔이 수영을 좋아해요 “John loves swimming”
잔이 수영은 좋아해요 “As for swimming, John loves (it)”
칼로가 한국어를 공부해요 “Carlo studies Korean”
칼로가 한국어는 공부해요 “As for Korean, Carlo studies (it)”
Second, since the function of the special particle is to add special meaning, it can appear after an existing case particle such as (으)로, 에, 에서, etc.
남산 타워가 서울에서 있어요 “Namsan Tower is in Seoul”
남산 타워가 서울에서는 있어요 “As for Seoul, Namsan Tower is (there)”
Third, a special particle can appear not only after a noun but also after an adverb (e.g., 멋지게 “wonderfully; in a nice way”, 빨리 “fast”).
그 사업이 소개를 멋지게 했어요 “That business did an introduction in a nice way”
그 사업이 소개를 멋지게는 했어요 “(I don’t know about other things but) that business
did an introduction in a nice way”
그 가게가 서비스를 빨리 제공해요 “That shop provides fast service”
그 가게가 서비스를 빨리는 제공해요 “(I don’t know about other things but) that shop
provides fast service”
However, an individual cannot simply memorize the places where a certain particle (i.e., both case and special particles) will always appear in a certain context. The reason is, as discussed above, that a particle can appear in the place where one would anticipate the other particle to be.
More About Particles
The use of particles in colloquial settings can be omitted even if they are tightly bound to and are an integral part of the noun. The said omission is possible since the contextual understanding of the colloquial conversation is often sufficient to denote the syntactic roles of the nouns being used (i.e., the particulars about who and/or what is the subject, topic, object, and so on). However, the omission of the particles is not permissible in the formal written communication. Consider the following instance,
[1] 나 너 사랑해! “I love you”
[2] 나는 너를 사랑해/난 널 사랑해! “I love you”
Notice that the sentence [1] does not have particles used while the sentence [2] had particles attached to the nouns (i.e., special topic particle 는, object case particle 를). Moreover, both sentences have similar meaning and had used the casual form of speech (반말). The only difference is that sentence [1] cannot be used in written communication thus, can only be used non-verbally (i.e., used in colloquial conversation).
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