Lesson 14 - The Particles That Make It All Clear - The Plural Marker

Hello everyone, 

We’re back with another grammar post, and it’s still about Korean Particles (for the other posts about the Korean Particles Series, click here). Don’t worry, we’re almost near the end of this series.  

Today we’re going to talk about the Plural Marker -들, which, just like some other particles, doesn’t have different versions depending on the noun attached to it. It doesn’t have a specific translation, as its main function is to turn nouns into plural so the translation can vary. 

Let’s pretend we are looking at the noun 사람 which means person. If you add the marker -들, it becomes 사람들 which can be translated into people. 

Let’s look at some sentences: 

서점에 책들이 많이 있어요 

There are a lot of books in the bookshop 

서울의 시민들이 많아요 

There are a lot of citizens in Seoul 

그녀는 상들을 많이 수상했어 

She won a lot of awards 

그 댄서들이 훌륭하네! 

Those dancers are great 

농부들은 쌀을 생산해요 

Farmers produce rice 

외국인들도 김치를 좋아해요 

Foreigners like kimchi too 

매일 공항에는 여행자들이 많이 있죠 

There are a lot of travelers at the airport every day 

Note that sometimes the plural marker can be omitted. Even when it is not in the sentence, the context will tell you if the sentence is intended in a singular or plural way.  

편집자는/ 편집자들은 보통 책을 많이 읽어요 

Editors usually read a lot of books 

관리자는/ 관리자들은 책임이 많이 있죠 

Managers have a lot of responsibilities 

환자는/ 환자들은 약을 많이 먹어요 

Patients eat a lot of medicines 

VOCABS SET ON QUIZLET: 1 

KPOPOLOGY WEBSITE: Home, KPOPOLOGY Explains 

DROPBOX FILES: Main folder, Lesson 14 Practice 

I will see you next time with another grammar post!

 구름