nuguege gyotongsagoreul singohaesseoyo?

To whom did you report the traffic accident?

Breakdown of nuguege gyotongsagoreul singohaesseoyo?

• 교통사고: the traffic accident
• 신고하다: to report (to authorities)
• 누구: who

Questions & Answers about nuguege gyotongsagoreul singohaesseoyo?

What does 누구에게 mean here?

누구에게 means to whom or to who in the sense of the person who received the report.

• 누구 = who
• 에게 = to, toward, for (used mainly with people/animate beings)

So 누구에게 is asking about the recipient of the action 신고하다 (to report).

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Why is 에게 used instead of 를 after 누구?

Because 누구 is not the thing being reported. It is the person you reported it to.

In this sentence:

• 교통사고를 = the traffic accident (object of 신고하다)
• 누구에게 = to whom (recipient/target person)

So the structure is basically:

• [thing reported] + 를/을
• [person reported to] + 에게/한테
• 신고하다

If you used 누구를, it would sound like who did you report?, which is a completely different meaning.

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Why is 교통사고 marked with 를?

Because 교통사고 is the thing that was reported.

• 교통사고 = traffic accident
• 교통사고를 신고하다 = to report a traffic accident

The particle 를 marks the direct object.

So the sentence literally works like:

To whom did you report the traffic accident?

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