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Korean Grammar: Directional Particle eh (에) Posted by on Mar 15, 2009 in Grammar

There’s another another directional particle besides ro () and uro (으로).  While ro () and uro (으로) means to go “towards” something, eh () means to be “at” something. 

For example if I say the phrase “at the house” I would take the noun “house” and attach the eh () particle to it.  Since the noun for “house” in Korean is jip (), the phrase “at the house” would be “jip eh” (집에). 

Just to remind you again, you don’t need to take account of the particle “the” or “a” in Korean.

Now if you want to say the phrase “I go to the house” you would need the verb “to go” conjugated in the present tense.  Since the verb “to go” is kada (가다), in the present tense it’s kayo (가요).  So the phrase “I go to the house” would be, jipeh kayo (집에 가요).  Remember that the verb is the last word at the end.  The word eh () can mean “at” or “to” in English.

The difference between uro (으로)/ro () and eh () is that uro (으로)/ro () is used in a vague sense while eh () is more exact.  If I say the phrase “Seoulro” (서울로) or “towards Seoul”, I am saying that it’s somewhere near or around Seoul (서울).  Now if I say “Seouleh” (서울에) or “at/to Seoul” I am saying it’s “in” Seoul.  Notice how the eh () particle gives off a precise meaning compared to the ro () and uro (으로) particle. 

In my opinion when I’m being given directions through a map, I’d rather get them in the eh () particle than the uro (으로) or ro () particle.  Of course, that’s just my two cents!

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Comments:

  1. Bruce Buckingham:

    Ginny,

    Thank you so much for your blog. Your explanations are so clear and useful. I’m finding them very helpful.

  2. maxguy2099:

    thank you, i was looking for this!!