mokgyeokjaga hyeonjangeseo gyeongcharege jasehi malhaesseoyo.

-가 is the subject particle. It marks 목격자 as the doer of the action.

• 목격자 = witness
• 목격자가 = the witness did something

In this sentence, the witness is the person who performed the action of speaking.

A learner may also compare -가 with -는/은:

• 목격자가 focuses on who did it
• 목격자는 would sound more like as for the witness...

So 목격자가 is a very natural choice here.

Because -에서 marks the place where an action happens.

• 현장 = scene, site
• 현장에서 = at the scene, on the scene

The verb 말하다 is an action, so Korean uses -에서 for the location of that action.

Compare:

• 학교에서 공부해요 = study at school
• 집에서 먹어요 = eat at home

By contrast, -에 is often used for:

• destination: 학교에 가요 = go to school
• existence/location with 있다/없다: 집에 있어요 = be at home
• time in some cases: 3시에 = at 3 o’clock

So here, 현장에서 is correct because the speaking happened there.

-에게 marks the recipient or the person to whom something is said or given.

• 경찰 = police
• 경찰에게 = to the police

With 말하다, Korean commonly uses this pattern:

• A가 B에게 말하다
• A says something to B

So in this sentence, the witness spoke to the police.

You may also see:

• 경찰한테 = to the police, more conversational
• 경찰께 = to the police, honorific and more respectful

Here, 경찰에게 is neutral and standard.

자세히 is an adverb, meaning in detail or carefully/detailedly depending on context.

It comes from the descriptive verb:

• 자세하다 = to be detailed

To turn many Korean descriptive verbs into adverbs, you replace -하다 with -히:

• 자세하다 → 자세히
• 친절하다 → 친절히

So:

• 자세히 말했어요 = spoke in detail

This tells us how the witness spoke.

Korean is generally a verb-final language. The main verb usually comes at the end of the sentence.

So the sentence structure is roughly:

• 목격자가 = the witness
• 현장에서 = at the scene
• 경찰에게 = to the police
• 자세히 = in detail
• 말했어요 = spoke / said

This is very normal Korean word order.

In English, we say:

• The witness spoke to the police in detail at the scene.

In Korean, all that information usually comes before the verb.

말했어요 is:

• past tense
• polite speech style

It comes from:

• dictionary form: 말하다 = to speak, to say
• past stem: 말했-
• polite ending: -어요

So 말했어요 means spoke or said, in a polite everyday style.

Compare:

• 말했다 = plain style, often used in writing or narration
• 말했어요 = polite conversational style
• 말했습니다 = more formal polite style

Good question. In Korean, the content of speech is often left out if it is understood from context.

A fuller version could be something like:

• 목격자가 현장에서 경찰에게 사건에 대해 자세히 말했어요.
• The witness explained the incident in detail to the police at the scene.

Or:

• 목격자가 현장에서 경찰에게 본 것을 자세히 말했어요.
• The witness told the police in detail what they saw at the scene.

In your sentence, Korean leaves the content unstated, and that sounds natural if the listener already knows what was being discussed.

Yes, Korean word order is more flexible than English, as long as the particles make the roles clear.

For example, these can all be natural depending on emphasis:

• 목격자가 현장에서 경찰에게 자세히 말했어요.
• 현장에서 목격자가 경찰에게 자세히 말했어요.
• 목격자가 경찰에게 현장에서 자세히 말했어요.

The basic meaning stays the same because the particles show the function of each noun:

• -가 = subject
• -에서 = location of action
• -에게 = recipient

That said, some orders sound more natural than others depending on context, and the original sentence is very normal.

Yes, though they overlap.

• 말하다 = to say, to speak
• 이야기하다 = to talk, to tell, to discuss

In this sentence, 말하다 works well because it can mean to tell someone something.

If you said:

• 목격자가 현장에서 경찰에게 자세히 이야기했어요

that sounds a little less natural by itself, because 이야기하다 often appears with a topic or object, such as:

• 사건에 대해 자세히 이야기했어요 = talked in detail about the incident

So 말했어요 is a very clean and natural choice here.

They are related, but not exactly the same.

• 목격자 = eyewitness / person who saw the event
• 증인 = witness, especially in a legal or courtroom sense

So 목격자 emphasizes that this person saw the scene or event.

In a police or accident context, 목격자 is very appropriate.
If you were talking about a trial, 증인 might be more likely.

Yes. Korean nouns often do not mark singular vs. plural unless needed.

So 경찰에게 could mean:

• to a police officer
• to the police

The exact meaning depends on context.

If Korean wants to be explicit, it could say:

• 경찰관에게 = to a police officer
• 경찰들에게 = to the police officers

But in many real sentences, just 경찰에게 is enough.

You can change the ending depending on the situation.

More casual

• 목격자가 현장에서 경찰에게 자세히 말했어.

Plain style / written narrative

• 목격자가 현장에서 경찰에게 자세히 말했다.

More formal polite

• 목격자가 현장에서 경찰에게 자세히 말했습니다.

The core grammar stays the same. Only the sentence ending changes to match the level of formality.