Breakdown of sikdangeun icheunge isseoyo.
~은~eun
topic particle
~에~e
location particle
식당sikdang
restaurant
있다issda
to exist
층cheung
floor
이i
two
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Korean grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about sikdangeun icheunge isseoyo.
Why is the particle 은 used after 식당 instead of 이?
은 is a topic marker, signaling “as for the restaurant.” It frames 식당 as what we’re talking about. If you used 이, that would mark 식당 purely as the subject.
- 식당은 이층에 있어요 = “As for the restaurant, it’s on the second floor.”
- 식당이 이층에 있어요 = “The restaurant (subject) is on the second floor.”
Could we say 식당이 이층에 있어요 instead?
Yes. Grammatically it’s correct. The nuance shifts slightly:
- With 은, you contrast or focus on “the restaurant” among other things.
- With 이, you simply state the restaurant’s location without that topic emphasis.
Why is it 이층 and not 둘층?
Floor numbers use Sino-Korean numerals (일, 이, 삼, …), not native Korean (하나, 둘, 셋, …). So:
- 1st floor = 일층 (often written 1층)
- 2nd floor = 이층 (often 2층)
Native numbers are never used for floors.
What exactly does 이층 refer to? Is it the ground floor?
In Korean buildings:
- 1층 = ground floor (same as “first floor” in American English)
- 2층 (이층) = one level above ground
Basements are called 지하 1층, 지하 2층, etc.
Why do we use 이층에 (with 에) instead of 이층에서?
- 에 marks a location where something exists or is found.
- 에서 marks where an action happens.
Since 있다 here means “to exist,” we pair it with 에:
> 이층에 있어요. (“It exists on the second floor.”)
What does 있어요 mean in this context? Doesn’t 있다 mean “to have”?
있다 has two functions:
- “To exist” when used with a place particle (에).
- “To have” when used with a thing.
Here, 이층에 있어요 = “it exists/is located on the second floor.”
If you say 시간이 있어요, it means “I have time.”
Can we use a more formal form like 있습니다?
Yes. To be more formal:
> 식당은 이층에 있습니다.
-요 ending = polite (spoken)
-습니다 ending = formal polite (speeches, announcements)
Is it OK to switch the word order to 이층에 식당이 있어요?
Absolutely. Korean is flexible:
> 이층에 식당이 있어요.
This emphasizes location first: “On the second floor, there’s a restaurant.”
Why don’t we drop 요 and just say 식당은 이층에 있어?
Dropping 요 makes the speech casual or informal. Use 있어 among close friends or younger people. In polite conversation with strangers or elders, keep 요: 있어요.
Can we write 식당은 2층에 있어요 with the numeral 2?
Yes. In signs and casual writing, 2층 is very common. In formal writing you might spell it out as 이층, but both are understood exactly the same way.