Breakdown of chinguga byeongwone wasseoyo.
~에~e
destination particle
친구chingu
friend
~가~ga
subject particle
오다oda
to come
병원byeongwon
hospital
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Questions & Answers about chinguga byeongwone wasseoyo.
What is the function of the particle 가 in 친구가?
가 is the subject-marker that attaches to a noun ending in a vowel. It tells us that 친구 (friend) is the one performing the action “to come.”
Could we use 은/는 instead of 가 here? What difference would that make?
Yes, you can say 친구는 병원에 왔어요. In that case, 는 marks 친구 as the topic rather than just the subject. It often implies contrast or emphasis (“As for my friend, he/she came to the hospital”), whereas 가 simply identifies the subject.
What does 에 do in 병원에 왔어요?
에 marks a location as a destination when used with motion verbs like 오다 (“to come”). So 병원에 왔어요 literally means “(someone) came to the hospital.”
Why don’t we use 에서 after 병원 instead of 에?
에서 indicates the place where an action takes place or originates (“at/in/inside”). But when your verb describes motion toward a place (like 오다 or 가다), you use 에 to show the destination. If you said 병원에서 왔어요, it would mean “(someone) came from the hospital.”
What form is 왔어요, and how is it built?
왔어요 is the polite-informal past tense of 오다 (“to come”). You take the verb stem 오-, add the past tense marker -았/었- (here 왔- because of irregular vowel contraction), and finish with -어요 for polite speech: 오 + 았 + 어요 → 왔어요.
Can I change 왔어요 to a more formal or more casual form?
Yes. For formal polite speech, use 왔습니다 (stem 오- + past -았/었- + formal ending -습니다). For casual speech among close friends, you can drop 요 and say 왔어.
Why is the verb at the end of the sentence?
Korean follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order. Even when there’s no object (because 오다 is intransitive), the verb still comes last.
Does 왔어요 imply that I’m at the hospital?
Yes. In Korean, 오다 (“to come”) implies movement toward the speaker’s or listener’s location. By saying 병원에 왔어요, you’re indicating that the friend has come to wherever you (or your listener) are—in this case, the hospital.