seonsaengnimege peneul jwo.

Give a pen to the teacher.

Breakdown of seonsaengnimege peneul jwo.

• ~을: object particle
• 선생님: teacher
• ~에게: dative particle
• 주다: to give
• 펜: pen

Questions & Answers about seonsaengnimege peneul jwo.

What does 에게 mean in this sentence?

에게 marks the indirect object or recipient of an action, equivalent to “to” in English. Here, 선생님에게 means “to the teacher.”

What is the function of 을 after 펜?

을 is the object particle marking 펜 as the direct object of the verb 주다. So 펜을 means “the pen” as something being given.

Why is the word order 선생님에게 펜을 줘 and not 펜을 선생님에게 줘?

Korean has a flexible word order for objects before the verb. Both 선생님에게 펜을 줘 and 펜을 선생님에게 줘 are grammatically correct. Placing the recipient (선생님에게) first can emphasize to whom you are giving.

What’s the difference between 줘 and 주세요?

줘 is the informal (반말) imperative form of 주다. Use it with close friends or those younger than you. 주세요 is the polite imperative, used with strangers, elders, or in formal situations.

Is 줘 considered impolite when speaking to a teacher?

Yes. With a teacher (or anyone you should show respect to), you’d normally use 주세요 or even the honorific verb 드리다, as in 선생님께 펜을 드리세요.

Can I replace 에게 with 한테?

You can. 한테 is an informal equivalent of 에게 used in casual speech with people or animals. So 선생님한테 펜을 줘 is okay among close friends, but you’d still need 주세요 to be polite to your teacher.

What’s the difference between 선생님에게 and 선생님께?

께 is the honorific counterpart of 에게. You use 께 when talking about or to someone of higher status. Pair it with 드리다 for full respect: 선생님께 펜을 드리다.

Why is there no subject in the sentence?

Korean often omits the subject if it’s obvious from context. In this imperative, the subject is the implied you (너). If clarification is needed, you could say 너 선생님에게 펜을 줘, but it’s usually dropped.