Korean Notes

안녕 여러분!

I dabbled a bit in Korean without getting too far. But hey, this might be useful anyway.

Particles

Particle Purpose Notes
들 Plural Not needed when the noun is implicitly plural (e.g. 우리)
은/는 Topic Difference between topic and subject: Reddit (en), Stack Exchange (en), Polusharie (ru)
이/가 Subject
을/를 Object  
에게 (lit.) / 한테 (col.) Dative  
에 Time / Place  
의 Genitive  
과/와 And  

More info on Wikipedia

Allophones

Phoneme ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ ㅇ ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㄸ ㅉ ㄴ ㄹ ㅂ ㅍ ㅃ ㅁ ㅎ
Initial allophone k kʰ k͈ – t tʰ s s͈ tɕ tɕʰ t͈ t͈ɕ n (n) p pʰ p͈ m h
Medial allophone ɡ ŋ d dʑ ɾ b (ɦ)
Final allophone k̚ t̚ l p̚

Lifted from The Korean Wiki Project

Interogatives

  • 뭐 - what
  • 누구 - who (누가 in subject form)

Demonstratives

  • 이것 = this thing
  • 그것 = that thing (aforementioned, like Icelandic sá)
  • 저것 = that thing

To Be

이다 - To equal, to be something

Note: It’s a particle, not a verb!

  • 이야 / 야 - informal impolite
  • 이에요 / 예요 - informal polite
  • 이다 / 다 - formal impolite
  • 입니다 / ㅂ니다 - formal polite

저것은 차이다 = that is a car

아니다 - To not equal

있다 - To be in a state, to exist

뉴욕은 미국에 있다 = New York is in the United States.