mokgyeokjaga gyeongcharege jasehi jinsulhaesseoyo.

Here is the breakdown:

• 목격자 = witness / eyewitness
• -가 = subject marker
• 경찰 = police
• -에게 = to (used for a person or recipient)
• 자세히 = in detail
• 진술했어요 = gave a statement / testified / stated in polite past tense

So the structure is roughly:

목격자가 → the witness
경찰에게 → to the police
자세히 → in detail
진술했어요 → gave a statement

Korean often puts the verb at the end, so the sentence order is different from English.

-가 marks 목격자 as the subject of the sentence: the person doing the action.

So:

• 목격자가 = the witness is the one who made the statement

This is different from -를/을, which would mark a direct object.

A learner often wonders whether -는 could be used instead. It could, but it would change the nuance:

• 목격자가 경찰에게 자세히 진술했어요.
  → focuses more on who did it: the witness did.
• 목격자는 경찰에게 자세히 진술했어요.
  → makes the witness the topic, perhaps contrasting with someone else or continuing a discussion about the witness

-에게 marks the recipient of the action, so 경찰에게 means to the police.

It is commonly used with people or animate recipients:

• 선생님에게 물어봤어요 = I asked the teacher
• 친구에게 말했어요 = I told my friend

In this sentence, the witness gave a statement to the police, so -에게 is very natural.

A few related forms:

• 경찰에게 = neutral/polite written/spoken style
• 경찰한테 = more casual
• 경찰께 = honorific, used when showing respect to the recipient

자세히 means in detail or carefully/in a detailed way.

It comes from the adjective 자세하다, which means to be detailed.
To make it into an adverb, Korean often changes -하다 adjectives like this:

• 자세하다 → 자세히 = in detail
• 조용하다 → 조용히 = quietly
• 친절하다 → 친절히 = kindly

So 자세히 진술했어요 means the witness did not just say something briefly; they gave a detailed statement.

진술했어요 comes from the dictionary form 진술하다.

Breakdown:

• 진술하- = verb stem
• -였어요 / -았어요 / -었어요 = past tense polite ending
• 하다 verbs usually become 했어요 in natural speech

So:

• 진술하다 = to state / to testify / to make a statement
• 진술했어요 = stated / testified / gave a statement

This is a polite past tense form, appropriate in everyday polite conversation and very common in textbook Korean.

진술하다 is more formal and often used in legal, police, or official contexts.

Compare:

• 말하다 = to speak / say / tell
  → general everyday verb
• 진술하다 = to make a statement / testify
  → official, investigative, legal nuance

Because the sentence involves a witness and the police, 진술하다 fits very naturally. It sounds like a formal report or police-related situation.

If you said:

• 목격자가 경찰에게 자세히 말했어요

that would still be understandable, but it would sound less official and less precise.

Yes, Korean often omits information that is obvious from context.

In English, you might expect something like:

• The witness gave a detailed statement about what happened.

In Korean, the content of the statement can be left out if listeners already know what is being discussed.

So this sentence does not need an explicit object. Korean often omits things like:

• what was said
• what was seen
• details of the event

Possible fuller versions could be:

• 목격자가 사건에 대해 경찰에게 자세히 진술했어요.
  = The witness gave a detailed statement to the police about the incident.
• 목격자가 본 것을 경찰에게 자세히 진술했어요.
  = The witness gave a detailed statement to the police about what they saw.

Yes. Korean word order is flexible because particles show each word’s role.

The most neutral order here is:

• 목격자가 경찰에게 자세히 진술했어요.

But these can also work:

• 목격자가 자세히 경찰에게 진술했어요.
• 경찰에게 목격자가 자세히 진술했어요.

The verb usually stays at the end, but the other parts can move around for emphasis, rhythm, or context.

Still, not every order sounds equally natural in every situation. The original sentence is a very standard, natural order.

Korean does not have articles like English a and the.

So 목격자 can mean:

• a witness
• the witness

The exact meaning depends on context.

In many textbook translations, this sentence becomes The witness gave a detailed statement to the police, because the situation sounds specific. But grammatically, Korean itself does not mark that distinction the way English does.

Yes, often it can.

목격 means witnessing something directly, especially seeing an event happen, so 목격자 often has the sense of eyewitness.

Depending on context, translations may include:

• witness
• eyewitness

If the person directly saw the incident, eyewitness is a very natural English translation.

A natural pronunciation is close to:

목격자가 → 목껵짜가
경찰에게 → 경차레게
자세히 → 자세히
진술했어요 → 진술해써요

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

목껵짜가 경차레게 자세히 진술해써요

A few pronunciation points:

• In 목격자, the consonants tighten, so it sounds like 목껵짜
• In 경찰에게, the final ㄹ links into the next syllable, giving 경차레게
• 했어요 is pronounced like 해써요

You do not need to pronounce it exactly like this from the start, but it helps explain why spoken Korean may sound different from the spelling.