# 학교에 나오다



## Hyperpolyglot

Does it mean coming to school or coming out of school or can it mean both based on context? Thanks


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## Hit Girl

It means coming to school/present oneself at school/showing up at school.
I cannot think of a context where it could be understood as "coming out of school".

p.s. If it's 학교에*서* 나오다, then it would mean coming out of school.


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## hahnny

I don't think it's coming to school as much as it's coming out or over to school. Because you couldve said, simply, 학교에 오다 as well. (which is coming to school) and 학교에 나오다 can idiomatically refers to attendance to a class or being present at school.
And yes, it could mean both based on context. (And in the latter case, it should be 학교에서 나오다 as suggested)
Lastly, 학교에 오다 doesn't have that idiomatic meaning. (Well, on a second reading, coming to school is pretty obviously being present in school and classes.. but it doesn't feel as idiomatic as 학교에 나오다. Damn. Oh, and what I'm speaking of as an idiomatic meaning of the expression in Korean is 학교에 출석하다)


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## Rance

hahnny said:


> I don't think it's coming to school as much as it's coming out or over to school. Because you couldve said, simply, 학교에 오다 as well. (which is coming to school) and 학교에 나오다 can idiomatically refers to attendance to a class or being present at school.
> And yes, it could mean both based on context. (And in the latter case, it should be 학교에서 나오다 as suggested)
> Lastly, 학교에 오다 doesn't have that idiomatic meaning. (Well, on a second reading, coming to school is pretty obviously being present in school and classes.. but it doesn't feel as idiomatic as 학교에 나오다. Damn. Oh, and what I'm speaking of as an idiomatic meaning of the expression in Korean is 학교에 출석하다)



I disagree.
Like Hit Girl said, I don't see any ambiguity in the directionality of the action happening in the expression.
The subject is moving *to* school, *not from* the school.
As rule of thumb, -에 and -에서 are not interchangeable as their meanings are different.
If one wish to say  "coming out of school", one must use "학교*에서* 나오다" and not "학교*에* 나오다".


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## Hyperpolyglot

Rance said:


> I disagree.
> Like Hit Girl said, I don't see any ambiguity in the directionality of the action happening in the expression.
> The subject is moving *to* school, *not from* the school.
> As rule of thumb, -에 and -에서 are not interchangeable as their meanings are different.
> If one wish to say  "coming out of school", one must use "학교*에서* 나오다" and not "학교*에* 나오다".



But isn't this like 한테 and 한테서? It is easily mixed up as well, isn't 한테 can mean both "from" or "to" depend on context? So that 에 can mean "from" or "to" without just the 서


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## Hit Girl

Hyperpolyglot said:


> But isn't this like 한테 and 한테서? It is easily mixed up as well, isn't 한테 can mean both "from" or "to" depend on context? So that 에 can mean "from" or "to" without just the 서



You're right: 한테서 and 한테 are interchangeable.
However, it's not so in case of 에 and 에서.

Let's *meet at *school.
- 학교*에서* 만나자 (O)
- 학교에 만나자 (X)

I'*m at* school now.
- 나 지금 학교에서 있어 (X) > it's okay... but "에" is a better choice for "at" when the verb is "있다"(be)
- 나 지금 학교에 있어 (O)

*** however!

I'm studying at school now.

- 나 지금 학교에서 공부하고 있어 (O)
- 나 지금 학교에 공부하고 있어 (X)

Did you *go to school* today?
- 너 오늘 학교에서 갔니? (X)
- 너 오늘 학교에 갔니? (O)

I'm *from* Korea
- 한국에서 왔어요 (한국사람이예요)

I've come to Korea
- 한국에 왔어요.

etc., etc., they look similar but they're so different.


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## Rance

To add more to Hit Girl’s explanatiion, 


"한테" has three different meanings.



> 1. 일정하게 제한된 범위를 나타내는 격 조사. (At)
> *너한테* 색연필 있니?
> 
> 
> 2. 어떤 행동이 미치는 대상임을 나타내는 격 조사. (To)
> *언니한테 *보낼 물건
> 
> 
> 3. 어떤 행동을 일으키는 대상임을 나타내는 격 조사. (From/by)
> *선생님한테(서) *칭찬을 들어 기분이 좋았다.




Only when third meaning is used, 한테 can be replaced with 한테서.


The case for -에 and -에서 is a little more complicated as their usages or range of meanings are much more wider, thus making harder to explain.
Usually they are not interchangeable, but for certain verbs it’s paired with they become interchangeable.

One example can be “고래는 물에(서) 사는 짐승이다."
Also when the verb “나오다” is used to mean “to sprout”, "뿌린 씨앗에(서) 싹이 나오기 시작했다." is fine.
However for other meanings of "나오다", "-에" and "-에서" are not interchangeable.

P.S. I deleted previous reply as I clicked "Post reply" too early without finishing and didn't want to leave it at unfinished state.


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