Sentence Structure

Source: https://www.90daykorean.com/learning-korean-english-speaker-duration/

Basic Grammar

Korean grammar is quite different from English, especially in its sentence structure. The most notable difference is the Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order.

For example, instead of saying, “I eat an apple,” you would say, “I – an apple – eat” in Korean:


저는 사과를 먹어요. (naneun sagwareul meogeoyo)


I eat an apple.


Particles: Another key feature is particles - they indicate the role of a noun in a sentence, such as the subject, object to a verb, or topic. For instance, “는/은” is a topic marker, and “를/을” is an object marker. These particles are essential to understanding the relationships between words in a sentence:

저는 사과를 먹어요. (naneun sagwareul meogeoyo)

I eat an apple.

Honour: Korean also uses honorifics to show respect, which change depending on the level of formality. There are different verb endings and vocabulary depending on whether you’re speaking to a friend, a stranger, or someone of higher status. For example, if you are talking to or talking about someone higher in status, you should use 드세요 (deuseyo) instead of 먹어요 (meogeoyo):

할아버지는 사과를 드세요. (harabeojineun sagwareul deuseyo)

Grandpa eats an apple.