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Questions & Answers about uijaga pyeonhaeyo.
Why is 가 used in 의자가 instead of 은/는?
가 is the subject particle in Korean, marking what the sentence is about in terms of action or state. 은/는 is the topic particle and can imply contrast or general statements. Here, you’re simply stating “the chair is comfortable”, so you use 의자 + 가 to mark it as the subject experiencing the quality 편하다.
Is 편해요 a verb or an adjective?
In Korean grammar, 편하다 is a descriptive verb (often called an adjective in English). Descriptive verbs behave like verbs in that they conjugate, but semantically they describe a state or quality (e.g., “comfortable,” “small,” “hot”). When you say 편해요, you’re using the polite present tense conjugation of this descriptive verb.
Why don’t we need a copula like 이다 in 의자가 편해요?
Descriptive verbs in Korean (like 편하다, 즐겁다, 아프다) already include the meaning “to be [adjective].” They end in -다 in the dictionary form and you conjugate them directly. So there’s no separate 이다 (“to be”) needed. Saying 의자가 편해요 literally means “the chair becomes/is comfortable.”
How do you change 의자가 편해요 to the past tense?
To make the past tense of the descriptive verb 편하다, you replace -해요 with -했어요.
• 의자가 편했어요.
This means “The chair was comfortable.”