Learn Hardcore Korean: seorap aneseo pyeonjireul chajasseoyo.

서랍 means “drawer,” 안 means “inside,” and -에서 is the particle that marks the location of an action. So 서랍 안에서 literally means “inside the drawer” or “from inside the drawer,” indicating where the finding took place.

Why is 안에서 used instead of 안에?

Both 안에 and 안에서 relate to being inside something, but their uses differ:

안에 describes a static location (e.g. “The letter is in the drawer.”).
안에서 emphasises that an action happened there (e.g. “I found it inside the drawer.”).

Why is there no subject like “I” in the sentence?

Korean often drops the subject when it’s clear from context. Here, the polite verb ending -어요 combined with the past marker -았- strongly implies a first-person subject (“I”), so you don’t need to say 저는 explicitly.

Why is 편지를 marked with -를?

-를 (or -을 after a consonant) is the object particle in Korean. It attaches to 편지 to show that “letter” is the direct object of the verb 찾다 (“to find”).

How is 찾았어요 formed from 찾다?