How to distinguish 은/는 and 이/가

안녕하세요~! 토미입니다!

Today, I will teach you how to distinguish the topic marker 은/는 and the subject marker, 이/가.

In Korean grammar, the concept of particles is essential in defining words’ relationships in a sentence.

In Korean, you should add a particle right after each main word to make it easy for the listener to understand.

The most basic particles you should know are 은, 는, 이, and 가. 은 and 는 are called “topic marking particles” or “topic markers.” The topic marker is literally the topic of a sentence. So, you focus on what the sentence is talking about.

Conversely, 이 and 가 are called “subject marking particles” or “subject markers.” It shows that the noun has a strong relationship with the vowel and is often the answer to the questions of who or which.

Native Korean speakers properly use these particles depending on the various meanings they want to convey.

However, it is tricky for Korean learners to understand the differences between each particle and use them correctly in the actual conversation.

That happens to people who have learned Korean and have lived in Korea for a long time.

Therefore, I will give you a clear explanation of each particle and its examples.

So you can get the basic idea.

Table of contents

은 / 는: Topic markers
이 / 가: Subject markers
Another function of 은 / 는: Showing contrast
은/는 and 이/가 in Compound Sentences
Summary

은 / 는: Topic markers

Topic marking particles indicate the topic of a sentence and what the sentence is about. You use 은 for words that end with a consonant and 는 for words that end with a vowel. Now, I will show you some examples.

저는 한국사람이에요. “I am Korean.”

This sentence has the topic marker right after the word 저 “I” and says, “I am Korean.” So, the topic of the sentence is 저. 저는 indicates that the sentence will talk about 저, and you can tell it is a self-introduction.

이 책은 재미있어요. “This book is fascinating.”

The next one has the topic marker after 이 책, this book, and says, “This book is interesting.” Here, the sentence talks about a book and describes its interest.

이 가방은 디자인이 좋아요. “As for this bag, the design is good.”

The last one has two particles, but as for the topic markers, it is attached after 이 가방, this bag, so you can immediately tell the sentence is about a bag.

The sentence goes 디자인이 좋아요, which means “the design is good.”

Accordingly, the sentence means, “As for this bag, the design is good.”

As you can see, you use 은/는 for the main topic of each sentence. In this way, in Korean grammar, you make what you will talk about clear by marking it with these topic markers and continuing a sentence by describing what it is or how it is.

This is the basic and most straightforward use of 은/는.

이 / 가: Subject markers

Subject markers show a strong relationship between nouns and verbs and identify who/what initiates an action.

In other words, words marked by 이/가 are who/what takes an action.

It is often used as an answer to questions like who did it.

You use 이 for words that end with a consonant and 가 for words that end with a vowel.

Let’s say you are about to eat a piece of cake you left in the refrigerator last night but find it gone for some reason.

You probably suppose that someone ate up your cake, and the subsequent conversation will be like this.

You: 내 케이크 누가 먹었어? (Who ate my cake?)
Your brother: 나는 아니야. 나는 안 먹었어. (Not me. I didn’t. )
Your mother: 미안해. 내가 먹었어. (Sorry. I ate it.)

You want to know who ate it, so you ask your family, using 누가, which is a combined word of 누구 “who” + 가, the subject marker.

Then, your brother answers first, saying, “Not me. I didn’t.” He uses 나는 instead of 내가 because he wants to mention himself and insists on his innocence.
So, using the topic marker, he goes, 나는 안 먹었어. “As for me, I didn’t.”

And then, your honest mother tells you that she did it, saying 내가 먹었어. “Sorry. I ate it.” Here, she uses the subject marker 가 for her answer.

It makes her the subject of the sentence.

You can see it is more closely related to the action of eating. It sounds like, “I am the right person who ate the cake.”

If she used 은/는 instead, it would sound unnatural.

In this way, you can see that there is a clear difference between the topic markers and the subject markers.

Another function of 은 / 는: Showing contrast

Apart from the topic marking function, 은/는 contrasts two or more things.

For example, imagine you are at a cute cafe with your friend.

You guys are happy to get to come to the new eating spot. So, the conversation will be like:

분위기가 너무 좋다. “I like the atmosphere.”
봐봐. 이 케이크도 너무 예뻐. “Look. This cake is so beautiful.”
사진도 잘 나와. “It is photogenic, too.”
근데 맛은 별로네. “But for the taste, it is just okay.”

The conversation starts with good reactions to the cafe’s atmosphere and the beautifully decorated dessert.

When you mention the atmosphere, cake, and photos, you use the subject markers 이/가 or another particle 도, which means “too,” because sentences using those particles are neutral as an expression.

But, as you taste the cake, it is not as good as expected based on other factors.

Therefore, when you mention the taste, you mark it with 은 to imply that you will say something different.

In this way, when you say a different or opposite opinion in a context, you use 은/는 to indicate that there is something to contrast.

It is really important to note that 은/는 is used to imply something else.

So, let’s look at another example. What do you think the following sentence implies?

제 동생은 얼굴은 예뻐요. “I will tell you the meaning of each word.”

I guess quite a few Korean learners, especially beginners, will get it wrong and suppose it to compliment the younger sister, saying, “My sister has a pretty face.”

However, it is not. The more neutral way to give a positive description of the sister will be 제 동생은 얼굴이 예뻐요.

As you can see, the difference is the particle marking, 얼굴, “face.”

In both of the sentences, 제 동생은 indicates that the topic of the sentence is 제 동생, my sister, so you can tell that what is going to be talked about is the sister.

In sentence B, it says, 얼굴이 예뻐요, which means “the face is pretty,” so the sentence B means “As for my sister, the face is pretty.”

This is a very neutral and straightforward compliment, enough to make the sister happy.

On the other hand, in the sentence A, 은 is used to mark 얼굴.

So, the part 얼굴은 예뻐요 might imply that she certainly has a pretty face, but something else about her is not as good.

It could be her short temper or inconsiderate behavior, and also it could be her poor grades. So, what sentence A implies will be something like this.

제 동생은 얼굴은 예뻐요…근데 공부도 못하고, 성격도 안 좋아요. “My sister has a pretty face, but she always gets bad grades and even has a short temper.”

Based on these examples, you can see 은/는 can be used for contrast. OK?

은/는 and 이/가 in Compound Sentences

Regarding the different usage of 은/는 and 이/가, there is another essential grammar rule to remember.

That is when you use them in compound sentences.

In Korean grammar, the subject in an inner clause or subordinate clause is always marked by 이/가, the subject marker.

First, please look at the example of an English compound sentence below.

The milk I drank was sweet.

This sentence is made up of two clauses, which have a verb in it: one is “the milk I drank,” and the other is “~ was sweet.”

For the first one, the inner clause, the original sentence is “I drank milk.”

And for the outer structure is “The milk was sweet.” Here are the Korean translations of each sentence.

저는 우유를 먹었어요. (I drank milk.)
그 우유는 달콤했어요. (The milk was sweet.)

In these simple sentences, the subjects are marked by 은/는.

However, based on the rule I mentioned at the beginning of this section, the subject in an inner clause has to be marked by 이/가 instead of 은/는.

So, for the inner clause “the milk I drank”, you should use 제가 instead of 저는, and say “제가 먹은 우유.”

Therefore, the compound sentence in Korean will be like this:

제가 먹은 우유는 달콤했어요. (The milk I drank was sweet.)

The same rule applies to the cases where the subordinate clause is an adverb clause.

One example of an adverb clause is to express time, using when, such as when I came back, or when my brother saw me, and extra. Let’s look at this sentence.

제가 집에 돌아왔을 때, 가족들은 이미 자고 있었어요.
“When I got home, my family members had already gone to bed.”

“When I got home” is the adverb clause, the subordinate clause of the sentence, and “my family members ~” is the main clause.

The original sentences for each clause will be these:

저는 집에 돌아왔어요. “I got home.”

그때 가족들은 이미 자고 있었어요. “At that time, my family members had gone to bed.”

Comparing them to their compound sentences, you can see the change of particles marking the subjects.

In the one-clause sentence, it is 저는, but in the subordinate clause of the compound sentence, it is 제가.

You cannot say, ”저는 집에 돌아왔을 때, 가족들은 이미 자고 있었어요.”

The only one wrong letter will make the whole sentence unnatural for native speakers.

So far, we have been looking through many features about 은/는 and 이/가.

The particles work differently as a topic marker or subject marker. Because each adds different nuances of meaning to a sentence, you must use them correctly depending on the situation.