3 Sentence Summary of This Lesson:
- Topic markers 은/는 indicate what the sentence is about (the topic), which may differ from the subject.
- Use 은 after words ending with a batchim consonant, and 는 after words ending with a vowel.
- Translate as "As for..." to understand the topic-marking function in English.
Another type of label we have is the topic markers. It simply indicates that a word is the topic in the sentence. The topics are marked with ‘은’ and ‘는’.
The concept of ‘topic’ might be a little confusing, but it does happen sometimes that a word is a topic in a sentence, but not the subject.
For example, ‘나는 허리가 아파요’, which means ‘As for me, my back hurts.’ In this case, the back is the subject of the verb ‘hurt’, not ‘I’.
Sometimes, a word is both the topic and the subject or object of the sentence, in which case you will only use ‘는’.
For example, 머리는 안 아파요. which means ‘as for my head, it doesn’t hurt’.
When translating ‘-은/는’ in English, to be exact, you can use the phrase, “As for …”
Just like subject markers, there are two because of batchims, but they are essentially the same.
If the letter that comes right before the marker has a batchim, you will use ‘은’. If it doesn’t, you will use ‘는’.
e.g.) 나비는 → The last letter of the word is ‘비’, so attach ‘는’.
칫솔은 → The last letter of the word is ‘솔’, ‘ㄹ’ being the batchim, attach ‘은’
The reason for this distinction is again to make sure that the sound flows smoothly, instead of choppy.
Try the following exercise.
Fill in the blanks with 은/는.
- 파도__ 세요.
Answer
는
- 이빨__ 안 닦아요.
Answer
은
- 나무__ 많아요.
Answer
는
- 물__ 없어요.
Answer
은
- 땅콩__ 좋아요.
Answer
은
- 친구__ 갔어요.
Answer
는
- 강아지__ 자요.
Answer
는
- 불__ 안 났어요.
Answer
은
- 학교__ 재밌어요.
Answer
는
- 키__ 작아요.
Answer
는
* For more practice exercises, visit the ‘Practice Hub’.
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