Word
선생님에게 서명을 받았어요.seonsaengnimege seomyeongeul badasseoyo.
Meaning
I received a signature from the teacher.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of seonsaengnimege seomyeongeul badasseoyo.
~을~eul
object particle
선생님seonsaengnim
teacher
~에게~ege
dative particle
받다batda
to receive
Questions & Answers about seonsaengnimege seomyeongeul badasseoyo.
In this sentence, does 에게 mean “to” or “from”?
With verbs of receiving like 받다, 에게 is understood as “from.” With verbs of giving like 주다, 에게 means “to.” You can also use 에게서/한테서 to make the “from” meaning explicit.
Should I use 선생님에게, 선생님한테, or 선생님께?
- 선생님께: most respectful (honorific for people of higher status). Very natural here.
- 선생님에게: neutral/standard, common in writing; fine in speech too.
- 선생님한테: casual/conversational.
All three are acceptable; choose based on formality.
What about 에게서, 한테서, or 으로부터 to say “from”?
- 에게서 / 한테서 explicitly mean “from” (에게서 is a bit more formal; 한테서 more colloquial).
- 으로부터 is formal/literary: 선생님으로부터 서명을 받았습니다 sounds very formal.
- With honorifics you usually say 선생님께 (not “께서” for “from”—께서 is a subject marker).
Why is there an object marker on 서명 (서명을)? Can I drop it?
받다 is a transitive verb, so its object (서명) normally takes -을/를: 서명을 받다. In casual speech, Koreans often drop it: 서명 받았어요 is fine. In careful writing, keep the object marker.