Categories: Learn Korean

Grammar 101: Korean Possessive Pronouns and Particle

Learning Korean possessive pronouns and particle is one of essential part of basic grammar. Itโ€™s relatively easy to understand. However, you should know Korean pronouns first before you learn the possessive form. Basically, Korean pronouns consist of 3 categories and each has singular and plural form: first person, second person, and third person. First-person pronouns consist of ์ € (jeo) for โ€œIโ€ in formal form, ๋‚˜ (na) for โ€œIโ€ in casual form, while ์ €ํฌ (jeohui) or ์šฐ๋ฆฌ (uri) is for โ€œweโ€. Second-person pronouns consist of ๋„ˆ (neo), ๊ทธ๋Œ€ (geudae), and ๋‹น์‹  (dangsin) for โ€œyouโ€ in singular form. Meanwhile, ๋„ˆํฌ (neohui), ๋„ˆํฌ๋“ค (neohuideul), ๊ทธ๋Œ€๋“ค (geudaedeul), and ๋‹น์‹ ๋“ค (dangsindeul) are plural form of โ€œyouโ€. Third-person pronouns consist of ๊ทธ (geu) for โ€œheโ€ in singular, ๊ทธ๋…€(geunyeo) for โ€œsheโ€ in singular, ๊ทธ๋“ค (geudeul) for โ€œtheyโ€ in plural (male), and ๊ทธ๋…€๋“ค (geunyeodeul) for โ€œtheyโ€ in plural (female).

1. Korean Possessive Pronouns Basic Rules

Credit: tvN drama

In order to form Korean possessive pronouns, you only need to add particle ์˜ (e) after noun. Its formula is like putting โ€˜s after noun in English. However, this rule is exceptional for particular pronouns such as ์–˜ (yae), ๊ฑ” (gyae), ์Ÿค (jyae), ์šฐ๋ฆฌ (uri), and ์ €ํฌ (jeohui). You donโ€™t need to add particle ์˜ to those pronouns. Particle ์˜ can be attached to the end of nouns, pronouns, names, and titles. Letโ€™s see the examples below:

๊ทธ์‚ฌ๋žŒ์˜ ๊ฐ€๋ฐฉ (Geusaramui gabang) = that personโ€™s bag
์„œ์ค€์˜ ์˜คํ† ๋ฐ”์ด (Seojune otobai) = Seojunโ€™s motorbike
์„ ์ƒ๋‹˜์˜ ์ฑ… (Seonsaengnime chek) = teacherโ€™s book

2. Korean Possessive Pronouns for First Person (My)

Credit: tvN drama

There are two types of first-person pronouns based on honorific level. ๋‚˜ (Na) is casual term of โ€œIโ€ while ์ € (jeo) is the formal one. To form a possessive, we should add particle ์˜. However, since it meets with pronoun that ends with vowel, it makes the different sound and pattern. Meanwhile, it is not necessary to add particle ์˜ for plural form like ์šฐ๋ฆฌ (uri) and ์ €ํฌ (jeohui). ์šฐ๋ฆฌ (Uri) means โ€œourโ€ in casual way and ์ €ํฌ (jeohe) also means โ€œourโ€ but in formal way.

๋‚˜+์˜ = ๋‚˜์˜ -> ๋‚ด (Nae)
์ € + ์˜ = ์ €์˜ -> ์ œ (Je)
์šฐ๋ฆฌ + ์˜ = ์šฐ๋ฆฌ์˜/ ์šฐ๋ฆฌ (Urie/ uri)
์ €ํฌ + ์˜ = ์ €ํฌ์˜/ ์ €ํฌ (Jeohuie/ jeohui)

3. Korean Possessive Pronouns for Second Person (Your)

Source: Vlending

Similar to first-person pronouns, second-person pronouns has two types based on honorific level. ๋„ˆ (Neo) and ๋‹น์‹  (dangsin) are casual terms of โ€œyouโ€ in singular form. For the formal or polite way, you should address directly with names or titles. Meanwhile, it basically adds suffix -๋“ค after pronoun/ noun to create plural form. You can say ๋„ˆํฌ (neohui), ๋„ˆํฌ๋“ค (neohuideul), and ๋‹น์‹ ๋“ค (dangsindeul).

๋„ˆ + ์˜ = ๋„ˆ์˜ -> ๋„ค (Ni)
๋‹น์‹  + ์˜ = ๋‹น์‹ ์˜ (Dangsine)
๋„ˆํฌ + ์˜ = ๋„ˆํฌ์˜ (Neohuie)
๋„ˆํฌ๋“ค + ์˜ = ๋„ˆํฌ๋“ค์˜ (Neohuideure)
๋‹น์‹ ๋“ค + ์˜ = ๋‹น์‹ ๋“ค์˜ (Dangsindeure)

4. Korean Possessive Pronouns for Third Person (His/ Her/ Their)

Basically, third-person pronoun does not only refer to his, her, or their but also any nouns. It can be name and title. You may also address them with that personโ€™s, those peopleโ€™s, and so on. However, letโ€™s out the examples with the common ones like ๊ทธ์˜ (geue) for โ€œhisโ€ and ๊ทธ๋…€์˜(geunyeoe) for โ€œherโ€ in singular. Both are commonly used in written. Alternatively, you may address with ๊ทธ์‚ฌ๋žŒ์˜ (geusarame) that means that personโ€™s. However, it is commonly used in casual way. For formal or polite way, you should address with ๊ทธ๋ถ„์˜ geubune).

๊ทธ + ์˜ = ๊ทธ์˜ (Geue)
๊ทธ๋…€ + ์˜ = ๊ทธ๋…€์˜ (Geunyeoe)
๊ทธ๋“ค (Plural) + ์˜ = ๊ทธ๋“ค์˜ (Geudeure)
๊ทธ๋…€๋“ค (Plural) + ์˜ = ๊ทธ๋…€๋“ค์˜ (Geunyeodeure)
๊ทธ์‚ฌ๋žŒ + ์˜ = ๊ทธ์‚ฌ๋žŒ์˜ (Geusarame)
๊ทธ๋ถ„ + ์˜ = ๊ทธ๋ถ„์˜ (Geubune)

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