doma wieseo tomatoreul jareul ttae kareul josimhaeseo sseoyo.

object particle

Breakdown of doma wieseo tomatoreul jareul ttae kareul josimhaeseo sseoyo.

• ~에서: location particle
• ~를: object particle
• 위: top

Questions & Answers about doma wieseo tomatoreul jareul ttae kareul josimhaeseo sseoyo.

What does 도마 위에서 mean, and why is it 에서 instead of 에?

도마 means cutting board, and 위 means top/surface. So 도마 위 is on the cutting board or more literally on top of the cutting board.

The particle 에서 is used because this is the place where the action happens.
Here, the action is cutting.

• 도마 위에 = on the cutting board
• 도마 위에서 = on the cutting board, as the location where you do something

So 에서 is the natural choice because someone is performing an action there.

Why are there two object markers: 토마토를 and 칼을?

Because there are really two verbs in the sentence:

1. 토마토를 자를 때 = when cutting the tomatoes
2. 칼을 조심해서 써요 = use the knife carefully

Each verb has its own object:

• 토마토를 goes with 자르다 = to cut
• 칼을 goes with 쓰다 = to use

So even though it is one full sentence in English, Korean is showing the structure of both parts very clearly.

How is 자를 때 formed from 자르다?