에게 vs 한테: 'To a Person' | Korean Grammar

English has one small word — "to" — for both "I sent it to Seoul" and "I sent it to my friend." Korean refuses to blur those. A place you send something to takes 에; a person (or animal) you give, tell, send, or show something to takes the animate dative, which comes in two flavors: 에게 and 한테. They mean exactly the same thing. The only difference between them is register — 에게 belongs to writing and formal speech, 한테 to everyday conversation. This page teaches both, and drills the reflex every English speaker has to build: before you say "to," ask is the goal a person or a place?

Same meaning, split by register

에게 and 한테 are interchangeable in meaning. Where they differ is how they sound:

한테 — colloquial, spoken. This is what you say out loud, to friends, in messages, in daily life.
에게 — neutral to formal, and the default in writing: books, articles, emails, announcements.

Register	Form	Example
Spoken / casual	한테	친구한테 줬어요
Written / formal	에게	친구에게 주었습니다

Both attach to the recipient of verbs of giving, telling, sending, showing, teaching — 주다 (give), 말하다 (tell), 보내다 (send), 보여 주다 (show), 가르치다 (teach), 전화하다 (call), 물어보다 (ask).

친구한테 선물을 줬어요.

chinguhante seonmureul jwosseoyo

I gave a gift to a friend. (spoken)

저한테 말해 주세요.

jeohante malhae juseyo

Please tell me. (spoken)

회원 여러분에게 알려 드립니다.

hoewon yeoreobunege allyeo deurimnida

We hereby inform our members. (written / formal notice)

No allomorph: both attach to anything

Unlike 은/는 or 이/가, neither 에게 nor 한테 changes shape for a final consonant or vowel. There is nothing to select. 친구 (ends in a vowel) and 선생님 (ends in ㅁ) both simply take the particle whole:

Noun	에게	한테
친구 (friend)	친구에게	친구한테
선생님 (teacher)	선생님에게	선생님한테
동생 (younger sibling)	동생에게	동생한테

선생님에게 이메일을 보냈어요.

seonsaengnimege imeireul bonaesseoyo

I sent an email to the teacher.

아까 민수한테 전화했어요.

akka Minsuhante jeonhwahaesseoyo

I called Minsu a little while ago.

Animals count as "people" here

The animate dative isn't strictly human — it marks any animate recipient, so pets and animals take 한테 / 에게 too. If it can receive, hear, or be shown something, it's animate enough.

개한테 밥을 줬어요.

gaehante babeul jwosseoyo

I fed the dog.

아이한테 그림책을 읽어 줬어요.

aihante geurimchaegeul ilgeo jwosseoyo

I read a picture book to the kid.

💡

The line isn't "human vs non-human" — it's animate (a receiver with a mind) vs place. A dog takes 한테; a mailbox takes 에. Ask whether the goal can receive the action, not whether it's a person.

The reflex to build: person vs place

This is the single most important habit. Because English uses "to" for both, learners reach for one Korean particle for everything and guess wrong half the time. Train yourself to split the goal in two:

Goal is a person / animal → 한테 / 에게 → 친구한테 보냈어요 ("sent it to a friend")
Goal is a place → 에 → 서울에 보냈어요 ("sent it to Seoul")

궁금한 게 있으면 저한테 물어보세요.

gunggeumhan ge isseumyeon jeohante mureoboseyo

If you have any questions, ask me. (goal = a person → 한테)

The verb often stays identical — 보내다 sends to both people and places — so only the particle tells Korean listeners whether the goal was animate. That's why picking the right one matters: it's carrying meaning English pins on nothing at all. The full side-by-side is on the 에게 vs 에 page.

Register in action: don't mix them up

Keep 한테 for talking and 에게 for writing. Slipping casual 한테 into a formal report reads as sloppy; slipping stiff 에게 into a chat with a friend reads as cold and bookish.

담당자에게 이미 보고했습니다.

damdangjaege imi bogohaetseumnida

I've already reported it to the person in charge. (formal report → 에게)

엄마한테 물어볼게.

eommahante mureobolge

I'll ask Mom. (casual speech → 한테)

💡

Default to 한테 when you're speaking, 에게 when you're writing. And note the ceiling: for an elder or superior recipient, neither is polite enough — you raise the particle to honorific 께.

The tricky middle: institutions and organizations

There's a genuine gray zone English never forces you to think about. What about a company, a school, a bank — a recipient that isn't a place you walk into, but isn't a breathing person either? Korean treats organizations as inanimate, so they take place-marking 에, not the animate 한테 / 에게. You send an email to the company with 에, but to a coworker with 한테.

회사에 이메일을 보냈어요.

hoesae imeireul bonaesseoyo

I sent an email to the company. (an organization → 에)

김 대리님한테 이메일을 보냈어요.

Kim daerinimhante imeireul bonaesseoyo

I sent an email to Assistant Manager Kim. (a person → 한테)

💡

Person or animal → 한테 / 에게. Place or institution (회사, 학교, 은행, 시청) → 에. The test isn't "does it have a name?" — a company has a name — but "is it a mind that receives, or an entity/location?"

Common Mistakes

1. Using place-marker 에 for a person. A human recipient is animate; it can't take the inanimate place particle 에.

선생님에 질문했어요.

✗ Wrong — a person takes 에게/한테, not place-marking 에.

선생님한테 질문했어요.

seonsaengnimhante jilmunhaesseoyo

✓ I asked the teacher a question.

2. Using 에게 / 한테 for a place. The mirror error — a place takes 에, never the animate dative.

서울한테 소포를 보냈어요.

✗ Wrong — a place takes 에, not 한테.

서울에 소포를 보냈어요.

Seoure soporeul bonaesseoyo

✓ I sent a parcel to Seoul.

3. Casual 한테 in formal writing. Grammatical, but the register clashes. Formal documents want 에게.

고객님한테 안내 말씀 드립니다.

✗ Register clash — a formal notice should use 에게.

고객님에게 안내 말씀 드립니다.

gogaengnimege annae malsseum deurimnida

✓ A notice to our customers. (formal)

4. Plain 한테 / 에게 aimed at an elder. To a grandmother, teacher, or boss, the neutral dative isn't respectful enough — you need honorific 께.

할머니한테 드렸어요.

✗ Under-polite for an elder — raise it to 께.

할머니께 드렸어요.

halmeonikke deuryeosseoyo

✓ I gave it to Grandmother. (honorific)

Key Takeaways

에게 and 한테 both mark the animate recipient — "to / for a person or animal." Same meaning.
The split is register: 한테 = spoken/casual, 에게 = written/formal.
No allomorph — both attach whole to any noun (친구에게 / 친구한테, 선생님에게 / 선생님한테).
They are strictly separate from place-marking 에: person → 한테/에게, place → 에.
For an elder or superior, raise the particle to honorific 께; for "from a person," see 에게서 / 한테서.

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