Study the difference between 은/는 and 이/가

In the last two classes, you learned 은/는 and 이/가.

However, there is no grammatical difference between 은/는 and 이/가

This is why people who are learning Korean find it difficult.

If you haven’t studied 은/는 and 이/가 yet, I recommend you to study first.

Table of Contents

은/는 and 이/가

–	은/는	이/가
Meaning	“은/는” attaches to a noun to indicate that the noun is the subject of the sentence.	“이/가” attaches to a noun to indicate that the noun is the subject of the sentence.
Form	– “은” is used when a noun ends with a consonant(받침). – “는” is used when a noun ends with a vowel.	– “이” is used when a noun ends with a consonant(받침). – “가” is used when a noun ends with a vowel.
Particle	Topic Marker	Subject marker

Table of 은/는 and 이/가

If you don’t know what batchim(받침) is. “Study Korean alphabet with batchim” will help you figure it out.

The difference is that is/is is a topic marker and this/that is a subject marker.

The common features are they are both particle and grammatically identical.

The difference is that 은/는 is a topic marker and 이/가 is a subject marker.

In other words, the difference between “은/는 and 이/가” is understanding the difference between topic markers and subject markers.

–	Topic Marker	Subject Marker
Meaning	Topic Marker indicate the topic of sentence, what the sentence is about.	Subject Marker indicate close relationship to the sentence, answering the question of who or which.

Table of Topic Marker and Subject Marker

In other words, 은/는(topic marker) indicates the action in the sentence, and 이/가(subject marker) indicates the subject(who or which) in the sentence.

Let’s learn how to distinguish them with some concrete examples.

Question:	오늘 날씨가 어때요?		How’s the weather like?
Sentence:	오늘 날씨가 흐려요.		It’s cloudy.

We use Subject Markers because the answer to the question about what the weather is like is, after all, a question about “weather”.

Question:	누가 미국에서 왔어요?		Who’s from the USA?
Sentence:	제가 미국에서 왔어요.		I’m from USA.

The question of “who” is from the United States is a question of who, so we use Subject Markers.

Question:	누가 내 우유를 마셨어?		Who drank my milk?
Sentence:	내가 마셨어.		I drank.

The question of “who” drank the milk is also a question of who, so we use a subject marker.

Question:	어느 나라에서 오셨어요?		Where are you from?
Sentence:	저는 한국에서 왔어요.		I’m from South Korea.

I’m curious about what country you’re from, so I use a Subject Marker.

Question:	직업이 뭐예요?		What do you for a living?
Sentence:	저는 의사예요.		I’m a doctor.

I’m curious about what you do for a living, so I use a Topic Marker.

Question:	몇 살이에요?		How old are you?
Sentence:	저는 20살이에요.		I’m 20 years old.

I’m curious about how old you are, so I use a Topic Marker.

In the "은/는" examples, we use Topic Markers because the question is not about who or what.

Thanks for reading.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment.