Subject Verb Agreement in Korean

Subject-verb agreement is an essential aspect of any language, including Korean. Ensuring proper agreement between the subject and verb is necessary to convey the intended meaning of the sentence accurately. This article will provide a brief overview of subject-verb agreement in Korean.

In Korean, the subject comes before the verb in a sentence, and the verb comes at the end. The verb ending changes depending on the subject’s number and formality level. Unlike English, Korean does not differentiate between a singular and plural verb for the third person. Instead, it indicates the number of the subject through the particles used.

For example, when the subject is singular, the verb ending is `-다.` When the subject is plural, the verb ending is `-다.` However, when the subject is in the formal or polite form, the verb ending changes to `-ㅂ니다.` This rule applies to all verbs, including action verbs, descriptive verbs, and auxiliary verbs.

Let’s take an example to understand the subject-verb agreement in Korean better. Suppose we have a sentence `나는 학생입니다` (I am a student). Here, `나` (I) is the subject, and `합니다` (am) is the verb. As the subject `나` is informal and singular, the verb ending is `-다.`

If we change the subject to a formal and singular subject, for example, `선생님` (teacher), the new sentence would be `선생님은 선생님이십니다.` Here, the verb ending changes from `-다` to `-ㅂ니다` to match the formal and singular subject.

Additionally, when the subject is plural, the verb ending also changes to `-ㅂ니다.` For example, the sentence `우리는 학생입니다` (We are students) has a plural subject `우리` (we), which requires the use of the `-ㅂ니다` verb ending.

In conclusion, subject-verb agreement is an essential part of the Korean language. The key to mastering subject-verb agreement is to understand the different verb endings and particles used to indicate the subject`s number and formality level. By paying attention to subject-verb agreement, writers can accurately convey their intended meaning in Korean sentences.