# 이 가 and 를을



## raquel98rm

Hi! In the setence "저는 한생이애요 그래서 돈이 없어요" is 이 in 돈이 a subject marking particle? If that's the case, why is that in "김밥을 맛있어요 그래서 김밥을 차추 먼어요" , 김밥 is used with the object marking particle 을? Because in the setences "I don't have money" and "I eat kimbap often", aren't both "money" and "kimbap" the object of the setence?

I'm sorry if I'm being confusing but the subject/object/topic marking particles are really hard for me to understand

Thanks!


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## cherine

Hi,

Until a native speaker comes and shed more light on this, I can tell you that you shouldn't view these verbs in their English meanings (to eat, to have) because this is what is causing the confusion: because in English food and money are the object of these verbs, but in Korean, the verb 있다 doesn't just mean "to have" but also "to exist", and maybe this is why the words that play the role of the object in English and other languages actually play the role of the subject in Korean. This is why 돈 is followed by the particle 이 instead of 을.
Think of it as "money exists with me" or "there is money with me" (though it's not natural English or Portuguese) and maybe this will clarify the Korean usage.

I hope I didn't confuse you more and hopefully native speakers will either correct or confirm what I said.


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## raquel98rm

cherine said:


> Hi,
> 
> Until a native speaker comes and shed more light on this, I can tell you that you shouldn't view these verbs in their English meanings (to eat, to have) because this is what is causing the confusion: because in English food and money are the object of these verbs, but in Korean, the verb 있다 doesn't just mean "to have" but also "to exist", and maybe this is why the words that play the role of the object in English and other languages actually play the role of the subject in Korean. This is why 돈 is followed by the particle 이 instead of 을.
> Think of it as "money exists with me" or "there is money with me" (though it's not natural English or Portuguese) and maybe this will clarify the Korean usage.
> 
> I hope I didn't confuse you more and hopefully native speakers will either correct or confirm what I said.



 I had yet to think about it that way, just because we translate a language to comprehend it, it doesn't necessarily have the same literal meaning.
Thanks!


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## malgeul91

raquel98rm said:


> Because in the setences "I don't have money" and "I eat kimbap often", aren't both "money" and "kimbap" the object of the setence?



In "저는 학생이에요, 그래서 돈이 없어요." the word "돈" is the subject of the verb "없다" (to not exist). Also, "돈" still is the subject in sentences like "저는 돈이 없어요." (in which case, "저" is the topic of the sentence, thus followed by the topic marker "는") because what does not exist is the money.

In "김밥이 맛있어요" the word "김밥" is the subject of the predicative adjective "맛있다" (to be tasty). Predicative adjectives like "맛있다" in Korean look and (to some degree) act like verbs, unlike attributive adjectives like "맛있는" which are determiners.

In "제가 김밥을 자주 먹어요." the word "김밥" is the object of the verb "먹다" because gimbap is what is eaten. "저" in front of the subject marker "-가" is the subject here.

When you say "저는 김밥을 자주 먹어요." the visible "저" followed by the topic marker "는" is the topic, and the subject "저" who eats gimbap is omitted (invisible) because you already know who eats it, as the speaker made the topic clear by saying "저는" in the beginning. Of course, as in "김밥이 맛있어요. 그래서 김밥을 자주 먹어요." you can also omit both the topic and the subject.


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## malgeul91

cherine said:


> I can tell you that you shouldn't view these verbs in their English meanings (to eat, to have) because this is what is causing the confusion: because in English food and money are the object of these verbs, but in Korean, the verb 있다 doesn't just mean "to have" but also "to exist".



Well said! "있다" is more like "to be" or "to exist", and the word "나는" in the sentence"나는 돈이 있다/없다." is rather like "I'm talking about «me»" than "with me". Because "-는" marks the topic of the sentence.

You can also have two subjects in a sentence like "내가 돈이 있다". In this case "돈" is the subject of the verb "있다" and "나" is the subject of the verb phrase "돈이 있다".


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## cherine

Thank you for the confirmation, and extra explanation, Malgeul


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