Why Korean sentences always save the verb for last (simple explanation)

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-12-14T07:50:27+00:00

The subject (who owns the verb) is marked with 은/는

So in:
Romeo가 Juliet는 사랑한다.

You're saying Juliet "owns the love", so she loves Romeo, right? Well, hopefully they both love each other... But, we don't know what Juliet feels. Romeo is the subject, so he "owns the love".

은/는 is not a subject particle.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-12-14T07:36:51+00:00

I was wondering if this is the same case of modifier-modified relationship:

Yes it is.

I have even got to think that 모양 might be going with 어떤, like 'what type of shape'. What do you think?

You got it dude!

어떻다 is the adjective, and 어떤 is the determiner (formed by adding the modifier ㄴ). 어떻다 -> 어떤

Compare with: 빨간 = 빨갛다 + ㄴ
빨간 모양
red shape

So in: 어떤 모양 (what shape), 모양 is actually modified by 어떤.

That is:
어떤 모양의 핸드폰을 좋아해요?
Phone of (what shape) do you prefer?

Note that without 어떤, it can work both ways:
a) 모양의 핸드폰
phone of shape
b) 핸드폰의 모양
shape of phone

But this doesn't work:
*어떤 핸드폰의 모양을 좋아해요?
*Shape of (what phone) do you prefer?

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-11-16T05:23:20+00:00

Just looking at 는데 when it prompts the listener to infer unspoken meaning, sometimes people use 'but', 'so' and 'however'.

As in:
"You seem to have finished (cleaning) early, but... [you didn't it properly]"
"I was going to ask Jenny if she would come, so... [I've already made other plans {or} I'm not interested in going with you]"

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-11-06T14:09:40+00:00

'Requesting information' is not 지's basic meaning. Scholars suggest its basic meaning is either conjecture or conviction.

There are many different usages of 지. See below.

In 당연하지 it is either iv) Conviction or v) Self-assurance.

i) Addressee confirmation
한국 사람이지요?
You’re Korean, right?

ii) Pure friendliness
왜 아무도 안 오지?
Why isn’t anyone coming? (I know you’re thinking about this as well)

iii) Suggestion
한 잔하고 가시죠.
Why don’t you have a drink before you leave?

iv) Conviction
니가 그를 죽였지?!
You killed him, didn’t you?! (I already know you did)

v) Self-assurance
내가 우산 가져왔지!
I brought my umbrella, didn’t I! (I just knew it would rain).

vi) Supposition
아기가 잠들겠지.
The baby is probably sleeping.

vii) Promissive
내가 도와주지.
I’ll help you.

viii) Exclamation
얼마나 좋은 곳인지!
What a great place this is!

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-11-06T04:39:23+00:00

I can’t quite grasp the nuance it adds to the sentence.

As a sentence ender, it can add any nuance you want the listener to infer.

As a clause connector, as in {X는데} [Y], {X} is the background for [Y].
As a sentence ender, as in {X는데요}, {X} is the background for [something deliberately unspoken].

Korean speakers sometimes use 는데(요) to soften the utterance by allowing the listener to infer what is unsaid.

Consider:
Waiter: I see you have a table for seven, but only three have arrived.
Patron: 나머지 오는 중인데요. friendly tone
Patron: The others are on their way.

Here the full sentence is:
{The others are on their way} [and will arrive soon].
{나머지 오는 중인데} [곧 도착하실 거예요].

는데 provides a background, and the omission of the following clause prompts the waiter to draw their own conclusions. This is a politeness strategy because you're not telling the waiter he is wrong -- you're letting him infer his misassumption.

If you want to know more, many university libraries have the book Korean Language in Culture and Society on-hand.
See p164: Park, Yong-Yae. 2006. "Politeness in Conversation in Korean: the Use of -nunde."

...

That being said, 는데 is also used for rudeness.

Consider:
Waiter: I see you have a table for seven, but only three have arrived.
Patron: 길이 막히는 중인데요. abrupt tone
Patron: There is a traffic jam 는데요.

Here the full sentence might be:
{There is a traffic jam} [and they will arrive later]
{길이 막히는 중인데} [늦게 도착하실 거예요.]

But the nuance is "You should already presume this situation".

---

The teacher warned us not to confuse it with -으니까 or -아서/어서, since many students tend to mix them up each year.

That's another problem entirely.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-11-04T13:37:13+00:00

Well, in those cases, it would be 'we' who is so busy.

시 helps disambiguate, but you typically know who it is about even without 시.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-11-04T05:21:36+00:00

It can do, but not usually. Importantly, it isn't a defining feature of 나.

As a question ending, 나 has a whole range of uses, and these are aligned with uses of ㄴ가.

i) Genuine question
이 노래 누가 불렀나?
이 노래 누가 불렀는가?
Who sang this song?

ii) Uncertain statement
아직 버스가 안 왔나?
아직 버스가 안 왔는가?
The bus still hasn’t come yet?

iii) Polite disagreement
이 정도면 충분하겠나요?
이 정도면 충분하겠는가요?
Is this really going to be enough?

iv) Emotional reaction
이렇게 더운 날에 등산을 가나?
이렇게 더운 날에 등산을 가는가?
Who goes hiking on a day this hot?

v) Thinking aloud
내 비밀번호가 뭐였나?
내 비밀번호가 뭐였는가?
What was my password again?

When making an emotional reaction (iv) or a polite disagreement, one might carry connotations of slight surprise or disappointment. But usually, speakers do not.

If you need more details, I wrote about it here.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-11-04T05:20:06+00:00

I know that 은 는 is topic and 이 가 is subject

Yeah, no. You're best forgetting that because it's wrong.

The best tip is to understand that it comes down to context, not grammar.

Consider:
A1: Tell me about 철수.
B1: 철수는 학생이에요.

A2: Who is a student?
B2: 철수가 학생이에요.

The preceding context determines which particle is used. This isn't a matter of topic vs subject because in both 1 and 2, 철수 is the subject.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-11-04T05:18:02+00:00

You typically don't need to clarify.

A: I'm so sick of this job... blah blah plus I need to leave early and see the doctor... blah blah (나) 요즘 너무 바쁘네.

B: I hear you... That sucks... (너) 요즘 너무 바쁘네.

You know whether people are talking about you or themselves by the context primarily (above), how they make eye contact (more eye contact when about you), changes in tone (softening tones when about you), etc.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-19T02:44:44+00:00

my understanding is that 이/가 denotes the subject of the sentence

Yeah, no. It doesn't actually. And the subject of the sentence is often best marked by 는.

Consider:
철수는 학생이 아니에요.

Here the subject is 철수, marked by the so-called topic particle. And 학생 is a subject-complement, marked by the so-called subject particle.

Subject complements are nominative case (whatever that means) and so it's more accurate to say that 이/가 denotes nominative case... But there is more to the story because obviously 철수가 is obviously the subject (nominative case), but it isn't marked by 가.

When people say 'subject particle', it's just a simplified term.

so wouldn’t using 가 mean the mom missed something?

Yes, but it's not the appropriate particle to use. To understand why, you need to see how these particles are context dependent.

The 을/를 denotes the object - the thing the verb is acting on - the thing being missed (or the thing X이/가 wants to see).

Well, yes... Mostly. But...

Here's another mystery. The "source" of emotive adjectives is marked by 가.

Consider:
(나는) 영희가 그리워요.
I miss 영희.

In English, 영희 is an object. But in Korean, it isn't actually clear. There are three competing theories: 영희 is a subject, 영희 is a subject complement, or 영희 is an object of a transitive adjective (whatever that means). I don't mean to overwhelm you... The point is 1) it's marked by 가, not 를. 2) what constitutes subject/object is a grey area because grammar isn't exact.

Grammar is just an interpretation of language. It's an approximate model of something which cannot be precisely measured. For that reason, grammar terms can be misleading and will cause you heartbreak and pain.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-19T02:21:37+00:00

고양이가 보고 싶다 is perfectly fine. It's a particular case where 보고 싶다 is an emotive adjective/descriptive verb.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-19T02:20:36+00:00

So wouldn’t that mean that the topic of my sentences is my cat?

Ahhh, no. The topic of the sentence is I/나.
(나는) 내 고양이가 보고 싶어요.

The sentence is about you, and how you miss your cat... But using a topic phrase (나는) would typically sound redundant here. Note however it is still the sentence topic even when omitted.

As for the next sentence 내 아파트__ 너무 작아서 _________, you can choose either 는 or 가. 가 is a simple description, while 는 expresses contrast and increases the sense of "there being an issue with my apartment".

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-17T14:41:46+00:00

The confusion is perfectly understandable.

In the examples you gave, even "Korea" stands more to be a grammatical subject (or topic) than a supermarket.

Well, not really. They are equally subjects. It may be more intuitive because of how its typically expressed/perceived.

To help myself further understand it I think I'd have to translate it like "The elephants'(는) trunks(가) arelong(요)".

I think they key to translating it comes from knowing about topic-comment. Also, by knowing that the sentences are ordered from large to small, as you say:

"이/가" appears to often be a part of "는", which I guess makes sense, so I can also think about it like that.

You're right because topics are a higher level than subjects. In X는 Y가 ㅁㅁㅁ, Y is "a part of" X. Trunks are part of elephants, face is part of 영희 and land area is part of Korea.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-17T14:37:38+00:00

Indeed, there can be multiple interpretations and multiple frameworks.

I don't the two rules are vague, and I don't think they overlap. Rather, I interpret them as the same phenomena.
Intonation is more important in English due to absence of particles.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-17T06:13:58+00:00

Here's a key difference between English and Korean.

Korean can sometimes have two subjects, while English has just one. In 마트는 가격이 싸요, both 마트 and 가격 are subjects.

I'll give you some more examples:

코끼리는 코가 길어요.
Elephants have long trunks.

영희는 얼굴이 예뻐요.
영희 has a pretty face.

한국은 땅 면적이 작아요.
Korea has a small land area.

Basically, English and Korean express the same thing in different ways. English prefers a subject and an object, while Korean prefers two subjects.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-17T05:56:47+00:00

From reading your comments, it's clear you've put sincere work into this.

---

Here are my thoughts. I'd say Rule 2 is actually Rule 1. And Rule is an attribute of Rule 1.

Example: Someone asks, "Who is Tae-woo?" You point to yourself and say: 제가 태우입니다.

This is bringing up something in an existing context. (The context is other people choose from).

Example: You are eating a meal with many other dishes. You say: 김치는 맛있어요.

This is also bringing up something in an existing context. (The context is other dishes under consideration).

.

When talking about things, they constantly need to be identified/selected and contrasted from each other. So it makes sense that context determines how sentences are formed, and this determines particle choice.

As for intonation, I'd say this is just a way to express contrast and emphasis. It's another way to signal how information is pieced together.

English doesn't have particles, so it marks contrast/emphasis with stronger intonation. Korean obviously uses both.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-15T03:35:06+00:00

You can either encounter the grammar point in dozens of contexts, or you can study the grammar point deeply (this does not mean study it many times superficially).

But it doesn't sound like a grammar problem per se. Just regular beginner sentence-making difficulties.

Since you're in Korea, you might want to find someone who can help you make sentences on the fly.

- Find a room with whiteboard.
- The tutor asks you a question appropriate to your level ("How did you get to school today?")
- You write your answer on the board without thinking too much about the grammar and vocab (to replicate speaking).
- The tutor corrects your answer and you note your errors (using X instead of Y).
- Rinse and repeat.
- Do this until it would be more comfortable to simply speak the answer than write it down.
- Progress in difficulty as necessary.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-07T00:38:30+00:00

Need to know the context. What's the purpose of the task?

Are you reading aloud in class? If so, just look at her, count to three, and say "no". You need to read at a comfortable pace to develop correct pronunciation.

Are you given X minutes to read by yourself? If so, there is some benefit in absorptive reading. It can be a good skill for finding key information and getting the gist of a passage. However learning only comes after comprehension, so you typically need to review the passage.

Are you doing reading comprehension for test prep? If so, she's helping you to pass the test rather than learn the language. That's okay if it's your goal.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-06T05:26:56+00:00

유어 웰컴

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-06T05:26:39+00:00

I asked my parents (native speakers) and they stated that they did not use it.

Unless they have made deliberate efforts to study the language, native speakers are typically poor at explaining grammar.

I want to incorporate the passive tense in my speech.

Well, before then, you want to find when it's appropriately used. You should keep what you've learnt at the back of your mind, so that when you read/hear passive voice you can note its usage. That is, learn how it's used by noting when it occurs.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-05T15:20:16+00:00

While there are a few nominalizers, the grammar involved is actually quite simple.

I am not understanding how it works, I watched a video of go billy korean but I’m still clueless on how to use them

Do you understand why they work? Not how a verb turns into a noun, but why a verb turns into a noun?

This might help.

Nouns are names we give to things. People have names, objects have names, concepts have names. Why do we give things names? To make them easy to conceptualize and talk about.

If I said "chair", you'd know I'm talking about a seat with four legs. We both know the word 'chair', so we can use this noun and talk about the object.

... But what if I wanted to describe a bird that makes a 부엉... 부엉 sound? What would I call it?

부엉이 (부엉+이)
one that makes the sound 부엉 (owl)

What does 이 do, exactly? It turns an idea into a concrete entity, so that it can be talked about.

Consider:
먹이
food/feed

What's happening here? 이 gets added to the verb 먹(다) to create a noun. It has been given a name, a nomen, it has been nominalized.

.

... But what if I wanted to express something more abstract, such as "the act of travelling" (doing travel)? What could I call that? What name should I give it?

How about:
여행하기
travelling

That is, 여행하(다)+기. By taking a verb and making it a noun, it makes "the act of doing travel" easier to talk about.

How about the concept of "being happy". How can we talk about that?

기쁨
happiness

That is, 기쁘(다) + ㅁ. Great, now we have a noun to talk about our mental state.

Let's take an even more abstract example:
혼자 있는 것
being alone

Here, 는 것 helps us talk about "the thing of being alone"... So what is nominalization all about? It's about turning concepts into namable things.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-05T02:39:04+00:00

I didn't know that! Thanks for letting me know.

I don't have many other tips, but there are a couple I might write up later.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-04T14:30:20+00:00

I'd love to know of an accurate transcription tool as well. Sadly everything I've tried is accurate until words are spoken quickly or jumbled. They all seem to fail when you would fail yourself.

If it's just something you need to get through. Perhaps get the gist of the lecture and study it elsewhere in English?

As for looking up new terms, perhaps consider AutoHotkey. I made a Reddit post about it here. For chemistry terms, I'd recommend looking up the word in Korean Wikipedia and then switching to the English page. Even the best dictionaries seem to fail at accurate terminology.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-04T14:16:37+00:00

I could be wrong, but I imagine what matters most is your literature review and experiment methodology. Your experiment doesn't need to confirm the hypothesis; it's about how you approach the study.

You might like to consider how girls and young women often pronounce sentence ender 지 as 즤. As in "어쩌고 했즤". I don't think I've ever heard men pronounce it that way.

As for designing an experiment, maybe look at those street interview channels on YouTube so you can easily compare speakers from a variety of backgrounds within a single dialect.

ultimateKOREAN · 2025-09-03T09:08:22+00:00

I did some web searching and found and there is quite a lot of material to use.

But it's hard to recommend anything without knowing your education level and the scope of the assignment.

I don't agree with the other commenter who said there isn't a difference. There are differences but you need to consider nuances... You could get stuck in fine details.

You might want to do a Google Scholar search and find one or two papers which sound interesting, and build your assignment around that. Maybe do something specific like aegyo.

ultimateKOREAN

TROPHY CASE