oneul meogeul eumsigeuro saelleodeureul junbihaesseo.

object particle

Breakdown of oneul meogeul eumsigeuro saelleodeureul junbihaesseo.

• 먹다: to eat
• 오늘: today
• 준비하다: to prepare

Questions & Answers about oneul meogeul eumsigeuro saelleodeureul junbihaesseo.

What does 오늘 먹을 음식으로 mean and why is -으로 used here?

• 오늘 means “today.”
• 먹을 음식 is a noun phrase “food to eat,” made by attaching the future modifier -을 to 먹다
  • 음식.
• The particle -으로 here marks “as” or “for the purpose of.”
  Put together, 오늘 먹을 음식으로 literally means “as the food we’ll eat today” or more naturally “for today’s meal.”

Why is it 먹을 음식 and not 먹는 음식 or 먹을 거?

• 먹을 음식 uses the future attributive form -을 to express something you plan to eat.
• 먹는 음식 (present modifier) would imply “food that is being eaten” or a habitual action.
• 먹을 거 (“thing to eat”) is more colloquial and less specific than 음식. You could say 오늘 먹을 거로 샐러드를 준비했어, but 음식 sounds more natural when talking about a meal.

How do you form the future modifier 먹을?

Attach -ㄹ to verbs ending in a vowel, or -을 to verbs ending in a consonant.

• 먹다 ends in the consonant ㄱ, so you add -을 → 먹을.
• For a verb like 가다, which ends in a vowel, you add -ㄹ → 갈.