The DIRECT OBJECT PARTICLE 을/를 is another two-shape particle, like the subject particle 이/가 and the topic particle 은/는 : its form is 을 after consonants and 를 after vowels. Here are some examples:
| 을 After Consonant | 를 After Vowel |
|---|---|
| 물을 water | 노래를 song |
| 밥을 cooked rice | 고기를 meat |
| 빵을 bread | 개를 dog |
After a vowel, 를 is often abbreviated to just -ㄹ, especially in common expressions like 날 me, and 이걸 this thing. Remember that Koreans pronounce most particles as though they were part of the preceding word, like suffixes, without hesitating — just as you pronounce “sandwich-es” or “boy-s” without stopping between the word and its suffix. If you need to pause and think what particle to use, it is better to do so before you begin to say the noun, not after you have said it. But if you find you must pause, once you have found the right particle, go back and start from the noun again: 친구. . ., 친구. . ., 친구를. . . Again like the subject and topic particles, 을/를 has no English translation. Rather, it marks a grammatical function: the noun before it is the direct object of the verb, the it of does it. Since the subject and object particles flag their nouns as subject and object, the order in which these expressions come along in a Korean sentence is not crucial, as it is in corresponding English sentences, where word order alone marks grammatical functions so that Mother sees Baby does not mean the same thing as Baby sees Mother:
- 어머니가 애기를 봐요
Mother sees Baby.
애기를 어머니가 봐요
<-same-> - 어머니를 애기가 봐요
Baby sees Mother.
애기가 어머니를 봐요
<-same->
In spoken Korean, either subject or object particle may drop out, and if both are omitted the sentence may become ambiguous: 어머니 애기 봐요 and 애기 어머니 봐요 can both have two opposite meanings — Mother sees Baby and Baby sees Mother — since Korean does not use simple word order to signal subject-object relations. If only one particle drops, of course, the sentence is not ambiguous: 어머니가 애기 봐요 and 어머니 애기를 can only mean Mother sees Baby.
Many English verbs take objects by way of a linked preposition: 사람을 기다려요 waits for a person = awaits a person. So you can’t always count on a one-to -one correspondence between transitive verbs in Korean and what are called transitive verbs in English.
In certain kinds of Korean sentences, as you have learned, a verb can have two subjects, i.e., two different nouns with the particle 이/가. But there is usually only one direct object to a verb. Most often, a direct object is similar in meaning to English direct objects: 책을 봐요 reads [books at a book, 편지를 써요 writes a letter.