Grammar what?

       Did you know in Hangul, the verb is actually at the end of the sentence? My current language book by Tuttle Publishing, Essential Korean, says there are special markers you use to define the subject. If the subject ends with a vowel, you add (-ga) at the end of the word, for a consonant it's (-i). For the object, if it ends in a vowel, you use (-reul); for a consonant (-eul). Let's try a sentence in english:

                            A cat chased the mouse.

       We understand, a cat (subject) chased (verb) the mouse (object). What if we switched it around?

                             A mouse chased the cat.

       Now that's just silly, but in the Hangul form, you add the ending to the subject and object. For this, we'll use what the book is saying. The book gives the following example:

                    The cat-ga a mouse-reul chased.

     One thing the book did not mention. The Korean word for cat is 고양이. It ends in a vowel but in the English language, a consonant. I got confused when I read it because I thought it would be cat-i. However mouse is 마우스, which also ends in a vowel. The book failed to mention that it would be using the Korean word for the examples. Glad to clear that up! Now if we switch the nouns around, it still would make sense in the Hangul language because the subject has been clearly marked.

                    The mouse-reul cat-ga chased.

     The mouse is still the object and the cat is the subject. If anyone has taken American Sign Language, it's the same basic set up in sentence and describing what happened. Oh, did you know, in Hangul, you don't need the subject if you talk about it enough. That's what I assume.


        Next post, we'll learn about the alphabet!! I'm excited because this will help us get started on the language and writing of the Hangul language.

Until next time!