은/는

RuleNoun + eun/neun: marks the topic or contrast of a sentence. After a consonant (batchim) use eun; after a vowel use neun.

Curiosity

Korean marks the front of a sentence in two different ways. What is the difference between "I (topic)" and "I (subject)"? Start with the topic marker.

Intuition

eun/neun is like writing a title on the board: "this talk is about X." It raises something as the topic, or contrasts it with something else.

Visualization

See step by step which form attaches to a consonant-final noun (chaek) versus a vowel-final one (namu): chaek → chaek-eun, namu → namu-neun.

Roletopic / contrast

ends in a consonant책book

ends in a vowel나무tree

Essence

eun/neun is topic/contrast; i/ga is new information/subject. Both can appear in one sentence — kkokkiri-neun ko-ga gilda ("as for elephants, the nose is long"): the big topic takes eun/neun, the inner subject takes i/ga.

Examples

저는 학생입니다.

I am a student.

책은 책상 위에 있어요.

The book is on the desk.

커피는 좋아하지만 우유는 싫어해요.

I like coffee, but I do not like milk.

Mini-quiz

"chaek__ jaemiisseoyo." (As for the book, it is interesting) — which fits the blank?