"아이가 남자와 여자의 사이에서 먹어요."

Translation: The child eats between the man and the woman.

[norahs60]

Why is it the 의 particle on 여자의?

[wintertriangles]

사이에서 usually uses -의 on the noun because 사이 is actually a word, not just a preposition. It means space, so it's kinda like saying "in their space."

[Gary251512]

You just answered my question on how we are supposed to know the child is between the man and the woman

[catemiche]

남자와 여자의 사이에 있는 아이가 먹어요
Like this, the sentence means "the child, who is between the man and the woman, eats" is it right?

[oee16]

Correct. Your sentence includes the adjectival clause 남자와 여자 사이에있는 which can be interpreted as a relative clause in English that is between the man and the woman.

[tatamic]

i read it as "the child eats the man and woman" GOOD NIGHT.

[not_odile]

Same, I had to take a deep breath and read that again hahahaha

[keep_learning127]

OMG!! (@_@)!

[conniestar16]

This one's hard.

[viswarkarman]

Would 남자하고 여자 사이에서 also be correct? That pattern was used in a previous answer ....

[koreaneasystudy]

I think it should be correct since 와/과 basically mean the same thing as 하고.
Both mean "and" and "with".

[elisstudiess]

I guess 고 is used to connect verbs and 남자 and 여자 are nouns

[fayedisc]

Is it possible to interpret this as something like "the child and the man eat between the women"?

[oee16]

No. The subject in your sentence "the child and the man eat between the women" is

The child and the man = 아이와 남자가. => 와 and 가 in the original sentence would need to swap places. i.e.

The child and the man eat between the women = 아이와 남자가 여자의 사이에서 먹어요.

[Lazer2903]

What about "The child eats with the man, between the woman"?

[oee16]

Between = among two or more things (people or objects)

Between cannot be used with a singular noun.

Between(Among) the women, a child eats with a man. = 여자 사이에서 아이가 남자와 함께 먹어요.

[DeborahFelix7]

For "사이에서" I chose the word "among". can someone explain why is it wrong?

[oee16]

"Among is used when talking about people or things that are not distinct and are viewed as a group*" e.g.

아이가 어른(들)의 사이에서 먹어요 = Among the adults a child is eating

When the elements are separate and distinct, use between. So,

아이가 남자와 여자의 사이에서 먹어요
[ => 2 separate elements 남자, man/men; 여자, woman/women ]

= Between the man(men) and the woman(women) a child is eating

[DeborahFelix7]

ahh thank you :)

[VeraJ622]

A similar sentence structure shown in the same section is 장난감이 의자하고 책상 사이에 있어요, where no 의 is added after 책상. Can somebody please explain to me why 의 is added after 여자 here? Thanks!

[oee16]

I think it is not a matter of 의 being added, but rather it being elided (especially in speech/colloquial language) from the expression "~의 사이에서"(between; among; amongst).

As Korean language evolves into a more structured language (i.e. with some proper word order) case markers* s.a. 이/가; 을/를; 에게/한테; -에; 의 become quasi redundant and are often omitted. If kept, they are used for clarification or emphasis.

Usage:
In the case of "~의 사이에서", 의 is often dropped when the different entities are clearly defined, e.g.

악마와 깊고 푸른 바다(의) 사이에서
Between the devil and the deep blue sea

두 세계(의) 사이에서
Between two worlds

너와 나와 기둥(의) 사이에서 (Lit.)
Between you and me and the pillar

의 tends to be retained to indicate the attached noun is a plural noun. The plural marker -들(every one of the group of) can be used to indicate the plurality of the attached noun, but sometimes this may cause a slight change in meaning. e.g.

가족들 사이에 / 가족의 사이에
Between the families / Amongst family members

전문가들 사이에서 / 전문가의 사이에서
Between the experts / Amongst experts

etc.