keopieseo seoltangeul ppaesseo.

I removed the sugar from the coffee.

Breakdown of keopieseo seoltangeul ppaesseo.

• 커피: coffee
• 설탕: sugar
• 빼다: to remove; leave out

Questions & Answers about keopieseo seoltangeul ppaesseo.

What does 에서 mean in 커피에서 here? I thought 에서 usually meant at or in a place.

Here, 에서 means from.

So in 커피에서 설탕을 뺐어, 커피에서 means from the coffee.
This is a very common use of 에서 with verbs that involve taking, removing, separating, or getting something out of something.

A few similar examples:

• 물에서 소금을 뺐어. = I removed the salt from the water.
• 가방에서 책을 꺼냈어. = I took a book out of the bag.

So although 에서 often marks the place where an action happens, it can also mark the source or starting point of removal.

Why is 설탕 marked with 을?

Because 설탕 is the direct object of the verb 빼다.

The verb 빼다 means things like:

• to remove
• to take out
• to exclude
• to subtract

In this sentence, the thing being removed is 설탕, so it takes the object marker 을:

• 설탕을 뺐어 = removed the sugar

So the structure is basically:

• 커피에서 = from the coffee
• 설탕을 = the sugar
• 뺐어 = removed