Cours de coréen ᚛ Level 1 - My First Steps in Korean (Lessons 1 to 30) ᚛ Leçon 19 - The Object Particle in Korean [을 / 를]

The Object Particle in Korean [을 / 를]

Dans ce cours : 을 / 를

을 and 를 are the particles that mark the object of an action verb. To compare to English, it marks the direct object.

A little reminder of English grammar

If you already know what a direct object is in English, then you can skip this section.

The direct object is a noun or noun phrase that completes the action verb and answers the question “what?” or “who?” in relation to the verb.

Suho eats an apple.
→ Suho eats what? An apple. So the direct object of the sentence is “an apple”.

I bought a vacuum cleaner.
→ I bought what? A new vacuum cleaner. So the direct object of the sentence is “a new vacuum cleaner”

You met Chanyeol.
→ You met who? Chanyeol. So the direct object of the sentence is “Chanyeol”.

Using 을 / 를 in Korean

Like all particles, 을 and 를 come immediately after the noun phrase they correspond to. 을 is used after a consonant while 를 is used after a vowel, as follows:

• If the noun phrase ends in a vowel: [Object]를
• If the noun phrase ends in a consonant: [Object]을

나는 사과를 먹어.

Breaking down the sentence:

• 는 indicates the topic of the sentence, which is 나 (= me, I (casual style))
• 를 indicates the direct object, which is 사과 (= an apple), which will complete the verb
• 먹어 is the verb 먹다 (= to eat), conjugated in the present tense in the casual style

So in English, we can form the sentence:
→ I eat an apple.

저는 친구를 만나요.

Breaking down the sentence:

• 는 indicates the topic of the sentence, which is 저 (= me, I (polite style))
• 를 indicates the direct object, which is 친구 (= a friend), which will complete the verb
• 만나요 is the verb 만나다 (= to meet), conjugated in the present tense in polite style

So in English, we can form the sentence:
→ I meet a friend.

지유는 물을 마셔요.

Breaking down the sentence:

• 는 indicates the topic of the sentence, which is 지유 (= Jiyu (Korean name))
• 을 indicates the direct object, which is 물 (= water), which will complete the verb
• 마셔요 is the verb 마시다 (= to drink), conjugated in the present tense in polite style

So in English, we can form the sentence:
→ Jiyu drinks water.

저는 멜론을 좋아합니다.
→ I like melon.

옷을 입어요.
→ Dress yourself. (Literally: Wear clothes.)

지민아, 연필을 돌려줘.
→ Jimin, give me back the pencil.

Note that to address a friend, the following suffixes are added to be friendlier and more intimate with the person:

• If the person's name ends in a vowel: [First name]야
• If the person's name ends in a consonant: [First name]아

An optional particle?

In everyday spoken language, you will notice that Koreans have a habit of omitting the particle 을 / 를 from their sentences. Indeed, when the direct object is obvious, there is no need to mark it with the 을 / 를 particle.

If we take the following expression:
사과를 먹다 (= to eat an apple).

And if we remove the object particle, we get:
사과 먹다

As we have seen, the particles are used to indicate that a noun group has a grammatical function within the sentence. In our example, now that the particle has been omitted, the interlocutor wonders what is the grammatical function of 사과 compared to 먹다. Is this the topic? The object? A place? A moment in time? In reality, the answer is obvious, 사과 can only be the object of the verb 먹다, there is no ambiguity, the only possible meaning is "to eat an apple".

So, if there is no doubt as to the meaning of the sentence, the object particle can be removed. If you have any hesitation, keep it!

Necessary Objects in Korean

Exercises

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