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Grammar / Level 1 / Lesson 13

에, 에서, 부터, 까지, (으)로: place and time

By Daniel Buckley · 11 minute read · TOPIK 1

Vocabulary

  1. 도서관 - library
  2. 회사 - company, office
  3. 넣다 - to put in
  4. 살다 - to live
  5. 일하다 - to work
  6. 앉다 - to sit
  7. 의자 - chair
  8. 도착하다 - to arrive
  9. 출발하다 - to depart
  10. 지하철 - subway

English uses "at school" in both "I'm at school" and "I study at school". Korean keeps the two apart. 학교에 있어요 says where you are. 학교에서 공부해요 says where the studying happens.

That split between 에 and 에서 is the hard part of this lesson, and it takes a while to become automatic. 부터, 까지 and (으)로 come after it and give much less trouble.

에: a point in space or time

에 goes after a noun and marks a point. The point can be where something is, where something is headed, or when something happens. English picks between "at", "to", "in" and "on" for these, mostly by habit. Korean has the one particle.

What 에 marks

  • Where something is, with 있다 and 없다.학교에 있어요집에 없어요
  • Where something is going, with 가다, 오다, 도착하다 and similar verbs.학교에 가요집에 도착했어요
  • When something happens.일곱 시에 일어나요토요일에 만나요

  1. 친구가 도서관에 있어요.

    Friend is at library.

  2. 오늘 회사에 사람이 없어요.

    Today there are no people at company.

  3. 내일 부산에 가요.

    Tomorrow (I) go to Busan.

  4. 동생이 집에 왔어요.

    Younger sibling came to home.

  5. 아침 일곱 시에 일어나요.

    (I) get up at seven o'clock in the morning.

  6. 토요일에 친구를 만나요.

    On Saturday (I) meet friend.

  7. 주말에 영화를 봤어요.

    On weekend (I) saw movie.

오늘, 어제, 내일 and 지금 take no 에. They already say when, so the particle has nothing to add. You say 내일 가요, and 내일에 가요 sounds wrong.

※ Hours use native Korean numbers, which is why it's 일곱 시. Telling time in Korean has the whole system.

위에, 안에, 앞에: on, in, in front of

Korean has no word for "on", "under" or "next to". It has nouns for positions instead, such as 위, the top of something, and 안, the inside of something. Put one after a noun, add 에, and you have the English preposition.

Noun, position, 에

  • 위 top, 아래 below, 안 inside, 밖 outside, 앞 front, 뒤 back, 옆 side.책상 위에가방 안에학교 앞에

  1. 책이 책상 위에 있어요.

    Book is on top of desk.

  2. 지갑이 가방 안에 있어요.

    Wallet is inside bag.

  3. 식당이 학교 앞에 있어요.

    Restaurant is in front of school.

  4. 고양이가 의자 아래에 있어요.

    Cat is under chair.

  5. 은행 옆에 카페가 있어요.

    Next to bank there is a cafe.

에서: where an action happens

에서 marks the place where an action takes place. If someone is doing something there, eating or working or anything else, the place takes 에서. 에 says where things are and where they go. 에서 says where things get done.

에 or 에서

  • 에 for being somewhere or going somewhere.도서관에 있어요도서관에 가요
  • 에서 for doing something there.도서관에서 공부해요

  1. 회사에서 일해요.

    (I) work at company.

  2. 식당에서 점심을 먹었어요.

    (I) ate lunch at restaurant.

  3. 학교 앞에서 친구를 만나요.

    (I) meet friend at front of school.

  4. 공원에서 산책했어요.

    (I) took walk in park.

※ 살다 takes either. 서울에 살아요 and 서울에서 살아요 are both fine, and in everyday talk they mean the same thing.

에서: from a place

에서 has a second job: it marks the place something starts from. With 오다, 출발하다 or any other movement away, read it as "from". In both jobs 에서 names the place an action is based in, and the verb tells you whether the action stays there or leaves.

  1. 서울에서 왔어요.

    (I) came from Seoul.

  2. 일곱 시에 집에서 출발했어요.

    At seven o'clock (I) departed from home.

  3. 회사에서 전화가 왔어요.

    Phone call came from company.

※ 도 and 만 from lesson 12 go after 에 and 에서, which stay put: 집에도 없어요, 도서관에서만 공부해요.

에 or 에서?

Look at the verb. If it places something or sends it somewhere, use 에. If it happens at the place or sets off from it, use 에서. Try the wrong answers too, because most of them are real sentences that say something else.

  1. 도서관___ 가요.

    I'm going to the library.

  2. 집___ 전화했어요.

    I called from home.

  3. 학교___ 친구를 만났어요.

    I met a friend at school.

  4. 의자___ 앉았어요.

    I sat down on the chair.

  5. 서울___ 왔어요.

    I came from Seoul.

  6. 동생이 집___ 있어요.

    My younger sibling is at home.

Listen and type

1 / 3

Play it as often as you like.

에다가: putting something somewhere

에다가 is 에 with more weight on the spot. It goes with verbs that put something somewhere, such as 넣다, 놓다 and 쓰다, and in speech it often shortens to 에다. Plain 에 is also correct in all of these sentences.

에다가

  • Something + 을/를, the spot + 에다가, a verb of putting.가방에다가 넣어요종이에다가 써요

  1. 지갑을 가방 안에다가 넣었어요.

    (I) put wallet into inside of bag.

  2. 책을 책상 위에다가 놓았어요.

    (I) put book onto top of desk.

  3. 종이에다가 이름을 썼어요.

    (I) wrote name on paper.

  4. 커피에다가 우유를 넣었어요.

    (I) put milk into coffee.

에다가 is for something being put somewhere. It can't replace 에 with 있다 or 가다, so 학교에다가 가요 is wrong.

부터 and 까지: from and until

부터 marks where a stretch of time starts and 까지 marks where it ends. You can use either one alone. For a stretch of space, the start is usually 에서, which you already know, and the end is still 까지.

Start and end

  • Time: 부터 and 까지.아홉 시부터 다섯 시까지
  • Place: 에서 and 까지.서울에서 부산까지

  1. 아홉 시부터 다섯 시까지 일해요.

    (I) work from nine o'clock until five o'clock.

  2. 월요일부터 금요일까지 학교에 가요.

    (I) go to school from Monday until Friday.

  3. 오늘부터 커피를 안 마셔요.

    From today (I) don't drink coffee.

  4. 서울에서 부산까지 기차를 탔어요.

    (I) rode train from Seoul to Busan.

  5. 집에서 회사까지 멀어요.

    From home to company is far.

  6. 숙제를 금요일까지 끝낼 거예요.

    (I) will finish homework by Friday.

Look at example 6. English switches to "by" when something has a deadline. Korean stays with 까지, so 금요일까지 can mean "until Friday" or "by Friday", and the verb tells you which.

※ 부터 isn't limited to time. It can mark any starting point in an order: 여기부터 읽어요, (I) read from here.

(으)로: towards, and by means of

(으)로 does two things. After a place, it gives the direction of a movement. After a tool, a vehicle or a language, it gives the means of doing something.

Adding (으)로

  • After a vowel or ㄹ: 로.버스로지하철로
  • After any other consonant: 으로.젓가락으로오른쪽으로

  1. 오른쪽으로 갔어요.

    (I) went towards right side.

  2. 서울로 이사했어요.

    (I) moved house to Seoul.

  3. 이 버스는 부산으로 가요.

    This bus goes towards Busan.

에 names a destination and (으)로 names a direction. 부산에 가요 says Busan is where you're going. 부산으로 가요 says Busan is the way you're heading. When you move towards a direction word like 오른쪽, use (으)로.

  1. 지하철로 회사에 가요.

    (I) go to company by subway.

  2. 젓가락으로 라면을 먹어요.

    (I) eat ramen with chopsticks.

  3. 볼펜으로 이름을 썼어요.

    (I) wrote name with pen.

  4. 한국어로 말해요.

    (I) speak in Korean.

Common mistakes

  1. 도서관에 공부해요.

    도서관에서 공부해요.

    Studying is an action, so the place takes 에서.

  2. 내일에 만나요.

    내일 만나요.

    내일, 오늘, 어제 and 지금 take no 에.

  3. 지하철으로 가요.

    지하철로 가요.

    A noun ending in ㄹ takes 로, with no 으.

One sentence in each group is wrong. Tap it.

Check yourself

Quick check

1 / 6

친구가 ___ 있어요. (식당) My friend is at the restaurant.

있다 says where someone is.

Summary

Place and time

  • 에: where something is, where it's going, or when it happens.
  • 에서: where an action happens, or where it starts from.
  • 에다가: the spot something is put, with more weight than 에.
  • 부터, 까지: the start and end of a stretch of time. 까지 also ends a stretch of space.
  • (으)로: a direction, or the means of doing something.

Now you can say

  1. 지금 도서관에 있어요.

    Now (I) am at library.

  2. 아홉 시부터 다섯 시까지 회사에서 일해요.

    (I) work at company from nine o'clock until five o'clock.

  3. 지하철로 집에 가요.

    (I) go home by subway.

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