병원이 어디예요? Where is the hospital?
병원이 어디예요? Where is the hospital?
| English | Korean |
| Where | 어디 |
| Here | 여기 |
| There | 저기 |
💻Let’s speak together!
🎫Let’s practice!
가: 여기가 어디예요?
나: 학교예요.
가: 병원이 어디예요?
나: 여기예요.
가: 저기가 어디예요?
나: 지하철 역이에요.
가: 버스 터미널이 어디예요?
나: 저기예요.
가: Where is here?
나: It’s a school.
가: Where is the hospital?
나: It’s here.
가: Where is there?
나: It’s a subway station.
가: Where is the bus terminal?
나: It’s there.
🏐Things you should know
① Position of “Where” in Korean
In English, interrogative pronouns(where, who, why, etc.) are positioned at the beginning of the sentence, but in Korean, the position of the interrogative pronoun is determined by its role within the sentence.
예) 여기가 어디예요 (complement role) “Where is here?”
어디가 좋아요? (subject role) “Where do you like?”
마이클은 어디를 좋아해요? (object role) “Where does Michael like?”
제니는 어디에 가요? (adverbial role) “Where does Seulgi go?”
② 여기 & 저기
When referring to a place or building nearby, ‘여기’ is used, and when referring to a place or building far away, ‘저기’ is used.
- 여기가 서울이에요. Here is Seoul.
- 여기는 더워요. Here it’s warm.
- 저기가 우체국이에요. There is the post office.
- 저기는 너무 높아요. That place is too high.
③ N+~예요. “I can’t see a subject!”
In English, the subject is always present within the sentence.
However, in Korean, there are some cases where the subject is occasionally omitted. When someone answers “학교예요.” (It’s school.), it can be confusing to determine the subject.
In fact, within this sentence, “(여기는) or (이곳은)” is omitted.
“(여기는) 학교예요.” means “(Here) is School.”
“(이곳은) 학교예요.” means “(This place) is School.”
Therefore, when learning Korean, don’t be surprised if there is no subject!
💎 What if…?
Q: What if I say “this place” instead of “here”?
A: Good question!
If you want to use “this place” instead of “here,” you can use “이곳” in Korean. “이” refers to “this,” and “곳” refers to “place.”
You can replace “여기” with “이곳” and “저기” with “저곳.”
However, “여기가 어디예요?” (Where is here?) is much more common to use than “이곳이 어디예요?” (Where is this place?) in Korean.
예) 여기가 어디예요? (O) Where’s here?
이곳이 어디예요? (O) Where’s this place?
저기가 어디예요? (O) Where’s there?
저곳이 어디예요? (O) Where’s that place?