"남자는 영어를 잘합니다."
Translation:A man speaks English well.
85 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
The difference is specification. Just like "a" is an indefinite article, or in simpler terms less specific, "은/는" is less specific and can mean men as a whole, a man, or a group of men. Basically, it's more general. "이/가" is about equivalent to "the" in English. It's much more specific, meaning the man, this man, etc. It refers to one individual, where as "은/는" can be more than one or a group. At least, this is true in usage. If you try and define the particles, it becomes very difficult because there isn't anything like them in English or any Latin-rooted language. So keep in mind that they don't necessarily mean "a" or "the," but rather that when you use them, they have the same function. Hope this helps! 화이팅!
Not quite. I think of it like this:
What is A? A is B. A 는/은 B. If we're talking about A, I'll have you know it's B.
What is B? A is B. A 가/이 B. If we're talking about things that are B, A is one of those things.
Neun/eun adds emphasis to the thing after it. Ga/i adds emphasis to the thing before it.
I would disagree because there are other components to using language, like reading or writing or listening. Sure in English we usually say "speaks", but in Korean if they meant literally only speaking I feel like they would be more specific than using the verb 하다 Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my understanding
946
There is no mention of 'speaking' here why isn't. 'the man is good at korean' not accepted?
57
I dont see the point of adding the A man. I also dont think the well is needed either. So it really should be "The man speaks English"
The verb 잘하다 means "to do well or skillfully". This verb is constructed from concatenating the adverb 잘 ("well") with the verb 하다 ("to do"). In the context of languages, this verb conveys skillful speaking.
Edit: Not every adverb can be concatenated with any verb or even with 하다. This is just a special verb whose concatenation has been formalized.
A post position particle (version that comes after a vowel) which marks the preceding noun as the direct object. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%EC%9D%84
On the main website, click on the "Tips" for each lesson.
The following website has more: http://organickorean.com/advanced-topic-marker-%ec%9d%80%eb%8a%94-vs-subject-marker-%ec%9d%b4%ea%b0%80/
We always use "speaks with languages" especially when we are talking about how one speaks. You could say "A man talks well in English.", but it would be about how he converses though technically it could be correct and could be reported as also correct if that meaning were also consistent with the meaning in this language. I think that they would use a different verb for conversing though. The adverb describes the verb and should be near the verb in English.