i gugeun jogeum maepjiman jeongmal masisseo.

This soup is a little spicy, but it’s really tasty.

Breakdown of i gugeun jogeum maepjiman jeongmal masisseo.

• 이: this
• ~은: topic particle
• 정말: really
• 맛있다: tasty

Questions & Answers about i gugeun jogeum maepjiman jeongmal masisseo.

What does 이 mean here?

이 means this. It is used for something close to the speaker.

So:

• 이 국 = this soup

A useful comparison:

• 이 = this
• 그 = that, near the listener or already mentioned
• 저 = that, over there, far from both speaker and listener

What is the role of 은 in 이 국은?

은 is the topic particle. It marks 이 국 as the thing the speaker is talking about.

So 이 국은 is like:

• as for this soup
• or more naturally in English, just this soup

Because 국 ends in a consonant, Korean uses 은. If the noun ended in a vowel, it would use 는 instead.

In this sentence, 은 can also give a slight contrastive feeling, something like:

• This soup is a little spicy, but...

Why is there no separate word for is in this sentence?