LEARN + KOREAN / Note 6 TOPIK I

Old News, New News (은/는 vs 이/가)

By now 은/는 and 이/가 have both shown up constantly without much explanation of why one appeared instead of the other. Here’s the actual rule. 이/가 marks the subject when it’s new or unknown information, the thing you’re pointing out for the first time. 은/는 marks the topic when it’s already known, the thing the conversation has settled on talking about. English doesn’t force this choice. Korean makes you make it in every single sentence.

Introducing vs. Commenting

여기 사과가 있어요.

yeogi sagaga isseoyo.

Here's an apple.

그 사과는 맛있어요.

geu saganeun masisseoyo.

That apple is delicious.

In Real Life

This is the classic story-opening pattern in Korean: 가 to introduce a character or object for the first time, 는 for every mention after that. The first line of a fairy tale almost always uses 가; every sentence about that same character afterward switches to 는.

Answering “Who”

Question words like 누구 (who) almost always pull 이/가, because the answer is by definition new information. 누구 even contracts with 가 irregularly, dropping a syllable: 누구가 becomes 누가.

누가 선생님이에요?

nuga seonsaengnimieyo?

Who is the teacher?

안나 씨가 선생님이에요.

anna ssiga seonsaengnimieyo.

Anna is the teacher.

Swap that same sentence to 는 and the meaning shifts. 안나 씨는 선생님이에요 doesn’t answer “who’s the teacher,” it responds to something like “what does Anna do?” Anna is already the topic; her job is the new part.

안나 씨는 선생님이에요.

anna ssineun seonsaengnimieyo.

As for Anna, she's the teacher.

Contrast

는 has a second job that has nothing to do with old versus new information: setting up a contrast between two things.

저는 커피를 좋아해요.

jeoneun keopireul joahaeyo.

I like coffee.

동생은 차를 좋아해요.

dongsaengeun chareul joahaeyo.

My younger sibling likes tea.

In Real Life

Said back to back like this, 는 quietly implies “unlike me.” Two 는 markers in back-to-back sentences almost always signal a comparison, even without a word for “but” anywhere in the sentence. This is why 는 can sound pointed in a way 이/가 never does: naming someone as a topic right after naming someone else invites the listener to compare them.

Vocabulary

Korean	English
사과 sagwa	apple
맛있다 masitda	to be delicious
맛없다 madeopda	to be not tasty
차 cha	tea
누가 nuga	who (subject form of 누구)
뭐가 mwoga	what (subject form of 뭐)
어디가 eodiga	where (subject form of 어디)
반면에 banmyeone	on the other hand
그런데 geureonde	but, by the way
근데 geunde	but, anyway (casual contraction of 그런데)
아무튼 amuteun	anyway, in any case
진짜 jinjja	really, seriously
그래도 geuraedo	even so, still
주제 juje	topic, subject
화제 hwaje	topic of conversation
새롭다 saeropda	to be new
익숙하다 iksukhada	to be familiar, accustomed to
처음 cheoeum	the first time
여전히 yeojeonhi	still, as ever
달라지다 dallajida	to change, become different