LEARN + KOREAN / 7 of 125 TOPIK I
Whose Is It? 이/그/저
a
You point to an umbrella and ask 이거 누구 거예요? (“Whose is this?”). Korean uses 누구 directly for “whose”; 이거/그거/저거 show whether the object is near you, near the listener, or farther away.
Demonstratives
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
i | this (near me) |
geu | that (near you) |
jeo | that over there (far from both of us) |
Whose Is This?
i sigyeneun nugu sigyeyeyo?
Whose watch is this?
yujin ssi sigyeyeyo.
It's Yujin's watch.
jeo chaegeun nugu chaegieyo?
Whose book is that, over there?
je chaegieyo.
It's my book.
geureom nugu penieyo?
Then whose pen is it?
geu peneun juno ssi penieyo.
That pen is Juno's pen.
In Real Life
이 사람 / 그 사람 / 저 사람 are the polite way to refer to a third person. Close friends often compress them into 얘 (this one), 걔 (that one), 쟤 (that one over there) when gossiping about someone who isn’t in the room. It’s casual enough to sound rude directed at someone senior to you, so save it for people your own age.
Is It There?
있다 covers two jobs English splits into different verbs: it describes something existing somewhere, and it describes someone having something. 있어요? on its own, with no location attached, is simply “do you have it?” 없다 is the shared negative for both meanings, “to not exist” and “to not have,” and it’s a separate word entirely, not 안 있다.
suji ssiga jibe isseoyo?
Is Suzy at home?
aniyo, jibe eopseoyo. hakgyoe isseoyo.
No, she's not home. She's at school.
gabangi gyosire isseoyo?
Is the bag in the classroom?
aniyo, gabangi gyosire eopseoyo.
No, the bag isn't in the classroom.
In Real Life
것 (thing) almost never shows up in its full form out loud. It contracts to 거 in speech, and combined with the demonstratives from here gives you 이거 / 그거 / 저거, “this thing / that thing / that thing over there.” 이거 뭐예요? (“what’s this?”) is one of the most common questions you’ll actually use, and it never requires knowing the object’s real name.
Vocabulary
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
pen | pen |
haendeupon | cell phone |
jigap | wallet |
don | money |
geoul | mirror |
bang | room |
chimdae | bed |
juin | owner |
bunsilmul | lost item |
chatda | to find, to look for |
yeolsoe | keys |
usan | umbrella |
igeo | this (thing), casual contraction of 이것 |
jeogeo | that (thing) over there, casual contraction of 저것 |
sigye | watch, clock |
gabang | bag |
sinbunjeung | ID card |
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