I am on new medication today and it’s making me feel very, very nauseous. I really don’t want to be here at school, but skipping class isn’t an option. It frosted again today, but not as badly as yesterday, and my car wasn’t frozen. I can’t believe it’s getting to winter time already!
Yesterday in Korean class (한국어 클래스) we went over 은/는 and 이/가 and to me they are very similar to the usage of は and が in Japanese grammar. は is a topic marker and が is a subject marker, just like 은/는 (topic) and 이/가 (subject). 은 is used after a consonant and 는 a vowel (same goes for 이 consonant, 가 vowel). It all gets confusing quickly. But let me (try to) demonstrate:
저는스티브입니다. - I am Steve, where Steve (my name) is the topic.
김치는참 맛있어요. – Kimchi is very tasty – kimchi is the topic (if this was a real conversation, I would have to use 는 because I just randomly changed the subject of Steve to a new topic kimchi).
김치도 매우 붉은 있어요. – Kimchi is also tasty. Just like とin Japanese 도 means “also, too”
불고기는 매운 있어요. Bulgogi is very spicy – since I changed the subject kimchi to a new topic bulgogi, I must use 는.
불고기가 싸요. Bulgogi is cheap – since bulgogi is already the new subject being talked about I can use 가.
The long and short of this is that 은/는 is used as a topic marker. This means it’s used whenever the subject is changed to a new one. 이/가 is used as a subject marker and is used once the topic has already been embarked upon.
Make sense? Yeah, I know, me too!! >.<
