5.2. Sentence Subjects and Topics

As you have seen, Korean nouns commonly appear in particle-marked phrases, and the particle after a noun sometimes has no exact English equivalent but rather assigns a grammatical function to the noun. Two such particles are the SUBJECT PARTICLE 이/가, which puts FOCUS or a spotlight on the noun before it (often the subject), and the TOPIC PARTICLE 은/는, which has three functions:

a)   to mark its noun as the sentence topic (‘what the sentence is about’)
b)   to point up a contrast, or
c)   to mark its noun as old or given or assumed information.

Some particles have two pronunciations or shapes: one when they come after a word which ends with a consonant, the other after words ending with vowels. Except for the reversed order of things, this is completely analogous to the English indefinite article a/an:

The subject and topic particles are both TWO-SHAPE PARTICLES. The SUBJECT PARTICLE is pronounced 이 when it comes after a consonant and 가 when it comes after a vowel:

Remember that 이 and 가 are the same word: it is a word with two pronunciations.The same is true of the TOPIC PARTICLE, which is pronounced 은 after consonants and 는 after vowels:

A Korean sentence subject (noun plus the particle 이/가) usually corresponds to an English sentence subject. So, often, does a Korean topic (noun plus the particle 은/는). They are usually interchangeable, but you should be sensitive to their different nuances, as explained below.

When you first mention a subject-when it is “new information”-you usually attach 이/가, the subject particle, to it. Thereafter in the same context, if you repeat the subject at all, it has become old information and usually has the particle 은/는 . The following exchanges exemplify this:

1. A. 이것이 무엇이에요?
   What’s this?
   B.그것은 우산이에요.
   That’s an umbrella.
2. A long, long time ago, a man [사람이 ] lived in the mountains. One day, he [그사람은] came down the mountain, and [blah-blah-blah]. . .

Once a particular subject has been mentioned there is no requirement in Korean to keep referring to it in subsequent sentences ? you can just drop it. However, if the subject is mentioned again, then it would be followed by the TOPIC PARTICLE (marking the noun as old information), not the SUBJECT PARTICLE. To repeat, the subject of conversation does not need to be referred to continuously, but if it is mentioned again then it is as a TOPIC.

We can say, therefore, that the TOPIC PARTICLE 은/는 is a particle which flags the word or phrase in front of it as the least unknown ingredient in your communication -the part you would be most likely to drop if you wanted to make your sentence brief. For this reason, the topic phrase nearly always comes at the very beginning of the sentence. As you have learned, the important things in a Korean sentence tend to accumulate toward the end, near the verb-the single indispensable element. The dispensable things-what the other person is most likely to know already-are put closer to the beginning, where they are missed the least if they are dropped out altogether.

You can topicalize any element in the sentence (except the verb!) by pulling it out of place, saying it first, and putting 은/는 on it. Here, to give you the feel of this deemphasis, is a single English sentence showing how each element might appear as the topic of a Korean sentence, and the emphasis of the resulting order: That student is studying Korean at school now.

1. a. That student 은/는, is studying Korean at school now
   1. [“what about that student? As for that student. . .”  The new information is the nature of the activity-not who is doing it.]

b. Now 은/는 , that student is studying Korean at school

1. 1. [Talking about what’s happening now: “That student is studying Korean at school.”]

c. At school 은/는, that student is now studying Korean (there)

1. 1. [To mention what’s going on at school. . .]

d. Korean 은/는, that student is studying [it] at school now.

1. [“What I want to say about the Korean language is. . .”]

Another common function of the particle 은/는 is CONTRAST, and occurs when each of two parallel statements (one of which may be implied rather than stated) begins with a topic. The CONTRAST between them is pointed up:

3. 김선생님은 의사에요. 그렇지만 나는 회사원이에요.
   Mr. Kim (he) is a doctor. But (me) I’m a white-collar worker.

The subject particle 이/가, on the other hand, puts a spotlight on the noun it follows. It appears most often with subjects which have not been mentioned previously in the context.

Certain words, by the very nature of their meaning, almost never appear as Korean topics, but frequently as subjects. These are words which inherently ask for new information ? such as 누구 who?, 무슨. . . what (kindof)?, 무엇 what?, 어떤. . . and 어느. . . which? By the same token, when you answer a question having one of these words, you use a subject to supply the new information, rather than using a topic. For example:

4. 어떤 것이 잡지에요? 저것이 잡지에요.
   Which one is a magazine? That one over there is a magazine.

5. 누가 선생이에요? 이분이 선생이에요.
   Who is the teacher? This [esteemed] person is the teacher.

6. 누가 학생이에요? 내가 학생이에요.
   Who is the student? I am the student.

Of course, if the question word occurs outside of the subject or topic, then the subject and topic positions in the sentence are handled as described above: the subject upon its first mention will have 이/가 and if mentioned thereafter, 은/는. Here are some examples of this sort of sequence. There are more in the additional materials at the end of the lesson:

7. 이것이 무엇이에요? 그것은 잡지에요.
   This thing is what? (That thing) is a magazine.

8. 이것이 무슨 책이에요? 그것은 한국말 책이에요.
   This thing is what kind of book? (That thing) is a Korean book.

9. 한국말 선생이 어느 분이에요? 한국말 선생은 김선생이에요.
   The Korean teacher is who? (The Korean teacher) is Mr. Kim.

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