Korean Location Particles ~에 and ~에서
In this lesson, you will learn how to use the Korean location particles 에 and 에서. In a previous lesson about Korean particles, you learned that particles are attached to some nouns to indicate the particular function of that word in a sentence.
The Korean location particles 에 and 에서 are both similar to the word ‘at’ in English. However, 에 and 에서 have slightly different meanings and are used in different situations. So, what is the difference between 에 and 에서?
The location marking particle 에 is used to indicate the location where something ‘exists’ or ‘is’. The location marking particle 에서 is used to indicate the location where an action is taking place.
Korean Location Particles ~에
에 is used in a sentence to mark a location where something exists, a direction in which an action goes towards, or a time at which an action takes place. Let’s look at some example sentences:
집에 고양이가 있어요. = The cat is at home.
As you can see, the location marking parting 에 in this sentence comes after 집 (house) and indicates the location where the cat (고양이) exists.
공원에 가요. – I go to the park / I am going to the park.
As you can see, the location marking particle 에 comes after 공원 (park) to indicate that the park is the place that you are going to (direction).
7시에 친구를 만났어요. – I met my friend at seven.
As you can see, the location marking particle 에 comes after the time 일곱시 (7 o’clock) to indicate that 7 o’clock is the time at which the speaker met his/her friend.
Korean Location Marking Particles ~에서
The location marking particle 에서 is mainly used to mark a word as the location where an action is taking place, or to express ‘from a place’. Let’s look at some example sentences:
학교에서 공부했어요. – I studied at school.
As you can see, 에서 is attached to 학교 (school) to indicate that the school is the place where the action (study) took place.
영국에서 왔어요. – I came from England.
As you can see, in this sentence 에서 is attached to 영국 (England) to mark England as the place where the speaker came from.
Review: 에 or 에서
Exercise 1
Here’s a fun practice exercise to review the difference between 에 and 에서. This video is a review quiz with 10 questions. Each question asks you to choose the correct location marking particle to complete the sentence.
Exercise 2
Here are some example dialogues which includes the Korean location particles 에 and 에서, plus what we covered in previous lessons. The dialogues also include the following keywords which you may not have studied yet:
- 어디 [eo-di] = where
- 언제 [eon-je] = when
- 집 [jib] = house
- 학교 [hak-kyo] = school
- 미국 [mi-guk] = America (U.S.A)
- 자다 [ja-da] = to sleep
- 운동하다 [un-dong-ha-da] = to exercise
Read the Korean sentences and try to guess what it means. Then, click on the ‘English’ tab to check the answer.
A: 어디에 있어요?
B: 집에 있어요.
A: 어디에 가요?
B: 학교에 가요.
A: 언제 잤어요?
B: 11시에 잤어요.
A: 어디에서 왔어요?
B: 미국에서 왔어요.
A: 어디에서 운동해요?
B: 공원에서 운동해요.
A: 어디에 있어요? = Where are you?
B: 집에 있어요. = I am at home.
A: 어디에 가요? = Where are you going?
B: 학교에 가요. = I am going to the park.
A: 언제 잤어요? = When did you sleep?
B: 11시에 잤어요. = I slept at 11.
A: 어디에서 왔어요? = Where did you come from?
B: 미국에서 왔어요. = I came from America (U.S.A).
A: 어디에서 운동해요? = Where do you exercise?
B: 공원에서 운동해요. = I exercise at the park.