"화장실에 남자가 있습니다."
Translation:The man is in the bathroom.
54 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
shouldn't the translation be "there is a man in the bathroom" instead of "the man is in the bathroom"
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But in English those two sentences don't quite mean the same thing. "There is a man in the bathroom" emphasises that the bathroom is occupied by a man whereas "the man is in the bathroom" emphasises the location of the man. Is there any difference in Korean?
I am sorry I was unclear. By "word order" I meant the Korean sentence. Since the word order is flexible in Korean, you often don't know where the emphasis is on by reading the text. Your intonation is also important.
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There is a man in the bathroom = 화장실에 남자가 있습니다
A man is in (/ is occupying) the bathroom = 남자가 화장실에 있습니다
The two sentences are semantically similar (same meaning) but syntactically different (different structures).
The man is in (/ is occupying) the bathroom = 남자는 화장실에 있습니다
Ash-Fred, if you are native, can you please please answer the question below (Kiklmor's)?
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에서 indicates location where an activity is taking place. So verbs used with 에서 should be dynamic (action) verbs.
있다, to be is a stative verb. It is therefore not compatible with 에서.
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Can you please, maybe, explain it to us? Why exactly isn't it "there is a man in the bathroom" instead of "the man is in the bathroom". What makes it different, and how would both be in in Ko? Thank you!
It can go both ways but you're right since the emphasis here is "in the bathroom: the man exists" rather than "the man: in the bathroom exists'. However ordering is fluid enough for either word order to mean the other based on context
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It's the word order which changes the sentence. This sentence puts more emphasis on the location of the man (the man is IN THE BATHROOM). If we said "남자가 화장실에서 있습니다", we are putting more emphasis on the bathroom being occupied by a man (there is A MAN in the bathroom). At least that's my point of view
I think because of the 에 ending, the word order doesn't make a difference because we know what the place is
Both sentences have the same meaning. However, word order may emphasize one noun (man or bathroom) more than the other.
In the bathroom, there is a man. (Bathroom is emphasized.)
There is a man in the bathroom. (Man is emphasized.)
Not really.. It's not just a matter of word order. For example, this cannot be an answer to- "남자는 어디있어요?" In this, the emphasis is on the whereabouts of a certain man. Although if the sentence had been "화장실에 있습니다, 남자가.", it would have the same meaning as "남자가 화장실에 있습니다" Now, the actual sentence could be an answer to a question like- "왜 화장실에 가지 않아요?" asked to a person who is standing in front of the bathroom without going inside.
Word order is very fluid. The order doesn't matter much to the translation (as long as the verb is at the end. That's a hard rule). The difference is the emphasis. So by putting the 'in the bathroom' first, someone who says this is emphasizing the location of the man, not the man himself.
Think of it as an answer to a question.
"Who is in the bathroom?" Vs "Where is the man?"
It depends in the particles behind the nouns or verbs. Word order is very fluid in Korean. As long as the particles are present the sentence is grammatically correct.
I translated it as "The man is at the bathroom". Shouldn't that be accepted as the meanings are used the same
Is 화장실에서 acceptable? I learned somewhere that it meant 'inside' of something.
-에서 is used when someone is doing something at a place. if they're just existing like in this instance, it's -에.
Location particle. Check out the Tips and Notes for the Basics 2 skill on the mobile/desktop website (not app itself unfortunately).
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To understand the sentence, I think this statement anwsers the question; "where is the man?" and not "who is in the bathroom?"
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Why isn't it "There is a man in the bathroom"? If it is really different, how would that be in Ko? Thanks! :D
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Interesting question. The answer is Yes.
Looking up Hotel ads & Airbnb, you often see the phrase
별도의 화장실과 욕실이있는 = with separate toilet and bathroom.
So it looks like Koreans do have a separate word for bathroom/washroom, (목)욕실.
As a non English speaker it is really frustating me that my answer was marked as wrong because I kept forgetting "a" and "the"
The man is in the Bathroom. = 남자는 화장실에 있습니다.
There is a man in a Bathroom. = 화장실에 남자가 있습니다.
I think this way is more natural.
You know you would never think that famous people would go to the bathroom
I think if any native Korean said this sentence, they would mean "There's a man in the bathroom" rather than "The man is in the bathroom".
If I am surprised/concerned that there is a man in the bathroom, can I say "이 화장실은 남자가 있읍니다"?
Is the ending "에" in 화장실에...mean inside or in ?
Also why isn't it "nin" as in 남자nin. Since the man is who we are talking about?
Thanks!
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(1)
~에 (location postposition) = in/at/on
안에 (placement adverbial) = in the inside of; inside [ 안(noun) = the interior ]. Usually used with nouns which represent bounded areas
속에 (placement adverbial) = in the bosom of/midst of; within [ 속 = the inside; the core ]. Usually used with nouns which represent boundless areas, or figuratively
eg
풀 속에 (in the grass), but 풀밭에 (on the greens);
가슴 속에 (in one's chest, fig.; cf. Eng. idiom: get something off one's chest)
뜨거운 물 속에 (in hot water, fig).; 수영장 안에, in(side) the pool; 수영장에, in/at the pool location)
Main difference:
속에 & 안에 are adverbials consisting of (noun)-에. They are not suffixes like the preposition -에.
(2) 남자가 있다. => -가 here plays the role of "object marker" for stative, intransitive verbs which cannot have direct object complements.
▪남자가 있다.
있다, 'be' (in existence) or 'is located', is stative, intransitive. It cannot be used with - 을/를. So, -이/가 is used instead.
-이/가 is an "index marking" tool to create a category of a word which otherwise remains of no interest (unknown) to the listener.
남자가 있다. = a/some man is or is located i.e. "There is a/some man" (by inference, where "there" is called a dummy subject)
▪남자는 있다
은/는 is an "index retrieval" tool used to select an established category to be the topic(theme) of the sentence.
남자는 = re.'The man' (re. man who 'has been indexed' i.e. known to both interlocutors; hence, the use of definite article "the")
남자는 [ ...에 ] 있다 = re the man, he is [ at ... ]
남자는 [ ...이/가 ] 있다 = re. the man, he is [of/with ...] = re. the man, he has [...]