sutgaragi eobseoseo pokeuro babeul meogeossdeoni jogeum isanghaesseo.

Because 없다 works like to not exist / to not be there, so the thing that is absent is usually marked with 이/가.

• 숟가락이 없다 = There is no spoon / a spoon is absent
• 숟가락을 없다 is ungrammatical

You could also say 숟가락은 없어서 if you want contrast, like as for a spoon, there wasn’t one. But the neutral form here is 숟가락이 없어서.

Yes. Here -아서/어서 connects the clause and gives the reason:

• 없어서 = because there isn’t / wasn’t

In connected clauses, Korean often does not mark past tense the same way English does when the time is already clear from context. Since the rest of the sentence is telling a past experience, 숟가락이 없어서 naturally means because there wasn’t a spoon.

A form like 없었어서 is generally not natural here.

Because -로 marks the tool or means used to do something.

• 포크로 먹다 = eat with a fork

The direct object is 밥을, not 포크.

So the structure is:

• 포크로 = with a fork
• 밥을 = rice / the meal
• 먹었더니 = when I ate / after I ate

If you said 포크를 먹었더니, that would mean when I ate the fork, which is obviously not what you want.

밥 can mean:

• cooked rice
• a meal / food in everyday Korean

In many contexts, 밥을 먹다 simply means to eat a meal. In this sentence, because it mentions a spoon and fork, learners often feel 밥 must be literally rice, and that is possible. But it can also just refer to the meal in a natural everyday way.

So 밥 is broader than just the English word rice.

-았/었더니 often means:

• when/after I did X, I found that Y
• I did X, and as a result Y happened
• having done X, it turned out that Y

So 포크로 밥을 먹었더니 조금 이상했어 has a feeling like:

• I ate with a fork, and it turned out to feel a little strange
• After eating rice with a fork, it felt a bit weird

This grammar often adds a sense of realized result or experience-based conclusion, not just a plain cause.

Both can connect ideas, but the nuance is different.

• 먹어서 = a more straightforward because I ate
• 먹었더니 = when/after I ate, I found that...

Here the speaker is describing the resulting feeling after trying it, so 먹었더니 sounds very natural. It highlights the experience: I tried eating with a fork, and it felt strange.

So 먹었더니 is better when the second part feels like an observed or realized result.

It is omitted, which is very common in Korean.

A natural English translation needs I, but Korean often leaves pronouns out when they are obvious from context. In this sentence, the speaker is clearly the one who ate and felt strange, so 나는 / 내가 does not need to be stated.

You could add it for emphasis:

• 나는 숟가락이 없어서 포크로 밥을 먹었더니 조금 이상했어.

But without 나는, the sentence is more natural in ordinary conversation.

Because the speaker is talking about how the experience felt at that time.

• 이상했어 = it was/felt strange
• 이상해 = it is/feels strange

Since the sentence is recounting a completed event, past tense is appropriate. It gives the feeling of looking back on the experience.

It is describing the whole experience/situation, not necessarily saying that the fork itself was strange.

A natural understanding is:

• Eating rice with a fork felt a little strange
• The experience was a bit weird

Korean often leaves the exact subject unstated when it is easy to infer from context.

조금 means a little / a bit.

It softens the statement:

• 이상했어 = it was strange
• 조금 이상했어 = it was a little strange / a bit weird

This makes the sentence sound more natural and less strong. In conversation, Korean often uses words like 조금 to make judgments sound milder.

했어 is informal, casual speech, used with friends, family, or people you are close to.

A polite version would be:

• 숟가락이 없어서 포크로 밥을 먹었더니 조금 이상했어요.

A more formal style could be:

• 숟가락이 없어서 포크로 밥을 먹었더니 조금 이상했습니다.

So the original sentence is casual and conversational.

Yes, but the nuance changes.

For example:

• 숟가락이 없으니까 포크로 밥을 먹었어.
  = Since there was no spoon, I ate with a fork.
  This sounds like a straightforward explanation or reasoning.

• 포크로 밥을 먹어서 조금 이상했어.
  = Because I ate rice with a fork, it felt a little strange.
  This is understandable, but it loses the after trying it, I found it strange feeling of 먹었더니.

So the original sentence is nice because it naturally shows:

1. the reason: no spoon
2. the method: with a fork
3. the experienced result: it felt a bit strange