# Posted: 2 Nov 2006 20:14 KST - Edited by: jcs
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These particles are parts of speech which do note exist in English,French,German, or Spanish. Since these do not exist in English, there is lots of confusion concerning their use. So, an explanation of what they are is called for.
I have started this topic to introduce you to the difference between the subject marker and the topical marker. I am no expert in korean grammer, however. So to learn well this important aspect of korean grammar, you will have to also read the second post by wittysan, which gives further examples and illuminates many sources of confusion.
The subject marker is the grammatical marker which emphasizes a noun in the sentence, and is denoted by 가 gah or 이 Eeeeh. The topical marker is the grammatical marker that indicates what in general the sentence is about, and is denoted by 는 nuhn or 은 uuhhnn ( like "an apple"). The difference between the two is a very indepth topic for foreigners, I can only give you an outline. The general rule I use is that 가 is used when emphasis is placed on the noun in the sentence. To to create a distinction between two different possible topics of conversation, the topical marker 는 is used.
1. First, there is the subject marker 가. The use of the word subject in the word subject marker is not a direct correlate to the subject of the English sentence as people think about it.
Examples of the usage of the subject marker are:
내 기분이 참 좋아요. My mood is very good. (the subject marker 이 follows the word 기분)
돈이 많이 있으면 좋겠어요. Money lots were, be good. => if there were lots of money, it would be good. the subject marker 이 follows the first word of the sentence 돈. NOTE: 많이 is a red herring; it's a vocabulary word which means "a lot".
Did that getcha?
In the first sentence 내 기분이 참 좋아요 there is emphasis placed on my mood, so a subject marker is used. In the second sentence 돈이 많이 있으면 좋겠어요 the same emphasis is placed on money.
The subject marker 가 can also change form sometimes, and it is written 이 when it is preceded by one of the consonants ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅂ,ㅁ,ㅈ,ㅉ,ㅊ,ㅋ,ㅌ.
2. Secondly, there is the topical marker. Inanimate objects can also be the topic of a sentence. And, it is important to remember how the topical marker just serves to single out what is being talked about, not in the sense of an agent. These are hard concepts for a foreigner to grasp, except for a Japanese. For English native speakers, thinking of it as As for .... is about the same thing.
Here are some examples of 는 and 은:
저분 은 조셉티처 입니다. That person is "joseph teacher".
나는 이 책상을 정말 좋아해요. I really like this desk.
나는 밤에 늦게 잠자러 갑니다. I go to bed late at night.
In the first sentence 저분은 조셉티처 입니다 we are distinguishing "joseph teacher" from the other people which are around the speaker, so we use the 은 to set him apart. In the second sentence, we could also say that 나는 is used to show that I am talking about my likes, not about yours, creating a different general topic. The same thing goes for the last sentence.
Similarly to how the subject marker 가 can also be written 이 when it follows a consonant, the topical marker 는 also can also be written 은. It is written as 은 when the word which precedes it ends with a consonant ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅂ,ㅁ,ㅈ,ㅉ,ㅊ,ㅋ,ㅌ. It is written 는 when it is preceded by a vowel, i.e. 어 아 여 야 ㅛ ㅗ ㅜ ㅠ etcaetera.
Finally, 는 has one other form. That is the ㄴ form. This is spoken a lot and is not considered formal but it helps one speak quickly and intelligibly. In cases where it is preceded with a vowel 어 아 여 야 ㅛ ㅗ ㅜ ㅠ etc. It can be contracted into its new form. Here are some examples:
나는 -> 난
너는 -> 넌
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