Lesson 11 - The Particles That Make It All Clear - Dynamic and Static Location Particles

Well, hello everyone! 

Welcome back to another grammar post on KPOPOLOGY GRAMMAR. Today we’re going to talk about two other particles which are used frequently in Korean. They're very important as they both indicate location, time or could even mean ‘from’. Let's not get confused beforehand, though. I don’t want to confuse you, already. 

But, don’t worry. They're part of the group of easy particles. So, buckle up! Let's learn them together. 

I’ve been asked why I’ve made a tag called ‘Korean Particles Series’ (check it out here) and why we need a series of blog posts to explain each of Korean particles. Well, the Korean language has several particles, and to learn how to use them properly, we’ll need to talk about them one by one. But hey! Most of them are pretty easy to get, so let’s not worry about them now. 

Let's move on to today’s topic, shall we? 

Let’s start with saying that there are two location particles, and they’re distinguishable thanks to the different functions they have (as I mentioned before). As I said, they are called “Dynamic and Static Location Particles”, but how come? You could kind of understand the difference by just reading their names, but if you don’t, then it’s alright. We’ll find out together in a bit! 

Before we move on to the main topic, make sure you check out the previous particles through the tag. 

Let’s start with the static location particle. It’s -에 and it doesn’t variate depending on the ending of the noun (or grammar pattern) to which it is attached to. You might recognize it, as I mentioned it and even used it in other blog posts or homework (if you missed on the homework, check the DROPBOX KPOPOLOGY LINKS at the end of each post or by clicking here).  

This particle is mostly used in sentences ending with verbs like 있다 and 없다 (if you don’t remember about it, check here) and, also verbs like 가다 and 오다. How come, though? The answer might be a bit confusing to some of you. The particle -에, as I said, is also known as static particle, as it is mostly used in situations which don’t need a further explanation or further meaning to them. What do we mean with no further explanations or meaning to the situations expressed in any sentences with this particle in them? I would say ‘easy’, but it is quite complicated to explain, so bear with me as I use examples too. 

Let's pretend someone asks you where your teacher is. In Korean, the question would be: 선생님이 어디에 있어요? The words in this sentence are three. We see the subject, the question word where and the main verb.  

The question word in it has the static location particle attached to it. Why? One reason is that because when the main verb of the question is one of the verbs listed above, the location particle to be used is -에. The second one is that most of the time when you use verbs that mean to be somewhere and to not be somewhere or to go somewhere and to come somewhere, you will know that the sentence won’t have other meanings to it. What do I mean with this? Let’s look at some examples to find out: 

서울에 같이 갔어요 

We went to Seoul together (we just went together and nothing else happened) 

사무실에 아무도 없어요 

There’s no one at the office (I went to the office to notice no one was there, and that’s it) 

From what we can see in these examples, the particle here is called static as both sentences express just one meaning. If you looked at sentences with the other particle, you would, instead, get the feeling that something else either happened before or would happen after the sentence has been said. But we’ll talk about the dynamic particle in a second. Let's look at more examples: 

사람들이 노래방에 가요 Alot of people go to the karaoke (literally means song room) 

친구랑 해변에 왔어요 I came to the beach with my friends 

유럽에 가고 싶어요 I want to go to Europe  

내 반친구가 다 영화관에 있어요 All of my classmates are at the cinema 

The particle -에 is also used to express time. In fact, it is used with time counters and other grammar patterns (전에 before and 후에 later) that have a similar function. It's pretty simple to use, and also very frequent. Let's look at some examples: 

내일 몇 시에 만나요? 

At what time will we meet tomorrow?

내가 9 시 30분에  일어났어요 

I woke up at 9:30 

다음 수업이 언제 시작해요? 10시에 시작해요, 맞죠?   

When does the next class start? It starts at 10, right? 

화요일에 음악회가 있을 거예요. 같이 가요! 

There will be a concert on Tuesday. Let’s go together! 

Now let’s look at the other particle: the so-called ‘dynamic location particle’. We're talking about -에서, which we’ve already seen in both examples of other grammar posts and some KPOPOLOGY EXPLAINS.  

This particle, on the contrary of the static location one, doesn’t hint just one action in a place. It hints that something else, other than the action expressed, is either going to happen or has happened already. Let's look at some examples to make the situation a bit clearer: 

우리 가족은 공항에서 나를 기다리고 있어요 

My family is waiting for me at the airport 

내가 친구하고 노래방에서 토요일마다 만나요 

My friends and I meet every Saturday at the Karaoke  

부엌에서 맛있는 냄새가 나요 

A delicious smell comes from the kitchen 

This particle can also be used with the meaning and function of ‘from’. It is attached to nouns that still have to deal with location. 

그는 태국에서 태어났어요 

He was born in Thailand 

저 식당에서 내 제일 좋아하는 음식을 먹을 수 있어! 

In that restaurant over there you can eat my favourite food! 

이 영화는 대한민국에서 찍었어요! 

This movie was shot in South Korea! (대한민국 means the Republic of Korea, which is the name of South Korea) 

VOCABS SET ON QUIZLET: 1 

KPOPOLOGY WEBSITE: Home, KPOPOLOGY Explains 

DROPBOX FILES: Main folder, Lesson 11 Practice 

I will see you next time with another grammar post!

 구름