keopie seoltangeul jogeum neoheo juseyo.

Please add a little sugar to the coffee.

Breakdown of keopie seoltangeul jogeum neoheo juseyo.

• ~을: object particle
• ~에: location particle
• 커피: coffee
• 조금: a little

Questions & Answers about keopie seoltangeul jogeum neoheo juseyo.

What does 에 mean in 커피에?

Here, 에 marks the place or target that something is going into. So 커피에 means in the coffee or into the coffee.

In this sentence:

• 커피에 = into the coffee
• 설탕을 = sugar
• 넣어 주세요 = please put/add

So 에 is not marking the direct object. It is marking the destination/location where the sugar is added.

Why does 설탕 take 을?

을/를 is the direct object particle in Korean. It marks the thing being directly acted on by the verb.

Here, the verb is 넣다 = to put in / to add, and the thing being added is 설탕, so:

• 설탕을 = sugar + object marker

A native English speaker might expect coffee to be the object, but in Korean the object is the thing being put in, while the container or destination is marked with 에.

What does 조금 mean here, and what is it modifying?

조금 means a little or a small amount.

In this sentence, it tells you how much sugar to add, so it modifies the action 넣어 주세요.

You can think of it as:

• 설탕을 조금 넣어 주세요 = please add sugar in a small amount

It comes before the verb phrase, which is normal in Korean.

Can I say instead of ?