Episode 26: Possessive Particle 의!

안녕 친구들~!

I've noticed that for the past few weeks I've been throwing pretty complex grammar topics at you guys so I wanted to spare you today and take it easy on the grammar part.

So we'll be going over the possessive 의 particle today and, believe it or not, it used to drive me crazy every time I tried to read anything in Korean or say it out loud. It was just one of those syllables that I would always have a hiccup on. I had to stop for a second, remember how it's pronounced and then continue with reading/talking. Imagine how frustrating that is -___-''' I've ben getting more accustomed to it recently though, so I decided to share some of the things I've learned about this tricky particle.

의 can be added to pretty much any noun or pronoun in Korean and it is used to indicate possession.

의 and Pronouns

*Korean is fundamentally different from English when it comes to pronouns! (just thought I should let you guys know)

Koreans don't use pronouns as often as English speakers do because Korean is a contextual language and the meaning of who the sentence is being addressed to or who is being talked about is not indicated by pronouns, but assumed by the context and the situation.

Nonetheless, pronouns do exist in Korean and here as a few you should know:

저/나- I

당신/너- You

You guys should be familiar with 반말 and 존댓말 by now and if you're not, click here to go back to an episode of Weekly Korean when I explained the levels of politeness in Korean, so the fact that there are two ways you can say 'I' and 'You' should not surprise you. 저 and 당신 are more formal, whereas 나 and 너 are more casual.

FUN FACT ABOUT 당신:

It is rarely used in daily life, which really surprised me. In English we use 'you' all the time but in Korean 당신 usually appears in dramas, Kpop lyrics or English to Korean translations. Also Korean couples call each other 당신 lovingly ^^

So in order to turn 'I' into 'Mine' or 'You' into 'Yours' just add 의 to the pronoun and you're done.

저 --> 저의 --> 제

나 --> 나의 --> 내

당신 --> 당신의

너--> 너의 --> 네

Notice how there are shortened versions of 'I' and casual 'You'. That is because when pronounced quickly that's how the pronouns actually sound so they have been shortened for convenience sack.

Note (!!) 내 and 네 should technically be pronounced the same way but they aren't. 네 is pronounced as 니 (but is NEVER written that way) for differentiation purpose.

Example sentences:

이것은 저의 안경이에요- These glasses are mine.

그 방은 나의 방이야- This room is my room.

제 성적은 좋아요- My grades are good.

당신의 손생님은 김 선생님입니까?- Is your teacher Mr. Kim?

너의 차가 비싸?- Is your car expensive?

네 우산은 흠뻑 젖었구나- Your umbrella is soaking wet.

의 and Nouns

As I've mentioned before, 의 can be used not only with pronouns but any nouns in Korean. The drill is the same though- just add it to the end of the word. 끝.

선생님의 사과입니다- It's a teacher's apple

어머니의 접시예요- It's mother's dish (plate)

이것은 아버지의 펜입니까?- Is this father's pen?

그것은 내 친구의 가방이에요- This is my friend's bag

의 with Question Words

It is possible add 의 to not only nouns and pronouns, but also to a question word 누구. On it's own it means 'who' and when you add 의 to it, it turns into 'whose.'

이것은 누구의 책이에요?- Whose food is this?

그것은 누구의 음식입니까?- Whose food is this?

Back to Pronouns

Remember the pronouns we talked about above? Good. You should :) I've taken it a tad bit further in the video and introduced other pronounce that kind of involve 의 but not openly. Basically there are also pronouns like 제가, 내가, which mean 'I' and 네가, which means 'You' (pronounced 니가). They are used in certain instances like these:

네가 좋아해- I like you

내가 밥을 먹었어요- I ate the food

I'm not going to go into details about the use of these pronouns in this post because, to be completely honest with you, I need to do more research to be able to explain in coherently.

Hope that's fine :)

Enjoy and good luck learning!

Much love,

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