Korean Grammar: Sentence Order

THE SENTENCE ORDERS

One of the first fish-out-of-water feelings that many English speakers will notice about the Korean language is the sentence order. It is one of the most unnatural rules to follow, since English follows the reverse set of rules. But what exactly is sentence order?

Sentence order is the guideline for the arrangement of words in a given sentence. Subjects, objects, and verbs all have their certain place in a sentence. Think of them like soldiers in a platoon. If any one of them falls out of line, then the entire platoon is off.

There are FOUR main types of sentence orders in Korean:

1. Subject - Object - Verb
ex: I - hotdog - eat

2. Subject - Adjective
ex: I - pretty

3. Subject - Verb
ex: I go

4.Subject - Noun
ex: I student

END WITH A VERB OR ADJECTIVE

As important as it is to understand how to start a sentence, the same can be said about ending them. There is another rule that is quite important to stress, so keep this in mind. Here it is: Every sentence needs to end on a VERB or ADJECTIVE. But what about number 4 on our list? Number 4 is Subject - Noun combination and doesn’t it end on a noun?

Well, when you want to end on a noun, you actually don’t end on a noun. Bear with me for a second here. Do you know how the verb “to be” in English is indicated by the words am/is/are? Well, Korean has the same type of identifier, but instead they use “이다”. “이다” simply means to be, but in Korean it does NOT act as a verb. Instead, it acts as an adjective.

Let’s take a look at the following examples:

I am a student = I student am = 나는 학생 입니다.

I am a woman = I woman am = 나는 여자입니다

I am a man = I man am = 나는 남자 입니다

I am an English teacher = I English teacher am = 나는 영어 선생님입니다

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About Peter

Peter Kim is a writer for Koreners Magazine.