The Basic Sentences of Lessons One and Two give you an opportunity to observe,over and over, a basic characteristic of Korean sentences: the verb expression comes at the end. This means, of course, that in a great many cases the order of things in a Korean sentence is different from the English order. Translated directly, Sentence 17 of Lesson 1, for example, 시간이 다 됐습니다 is The time all has-become; Sentence 14 of this lesson, 다시 말해 주세요, is Once again saying-please give; and so on.
In Korean sentences, the order of the various parts is determined not by grammatical function, as it is in English, but by importance: the closer a word is to the end of a Korean sentence, the more important it is. At the very end comes the one element which is indispensable: the verb. Many Korean sentences contain nothing but a verb:
먹었어요.[muhguhssuhyo] I’ve eaten
This verb says in a formal way that someone ate, past tense; that is all it specifies. But the sentence is grammatically complete. It would not be wrong to add a (and/or an object), but it would be superfluous.
Aside from commands, it is a rare English sentence which has no subject. Telegram style and post-card or diary style are special cases: Arrive 9 a.m. Monday. bring George. Saw a movie last night. Having a wonderful time. Even commands not uncommonly have subjects: You stop that! You boys get out of here!
As a general rule, the nearer a word or phrase appears to the beginning of a Korean sentence, the less essential it is – the more readily expendable. The order of such elements as subject, object, time, place, is determined by the emphasis assigned to each; and one thing that makes them less necessary is earlier mention in a context.
A conversation beginning with some such sentence as John bought a new suit could continue in Korean without further mention of either John or the suit. Notice that in English both of these must reappear, as pronouns if not in their original form: When did he buy it? and so on; the Korean equivalent could say simply When bought? and still be complete.
In other words, old information, if repeated at all, comes at or near the beginning of a Korean sentence, while newly supplied information clusters near the verb. If subject and object both offer new information, the object is more likely to come next to the verb.