헷갈리는 문법Korean Grammar Compared — The Pairs Everyone Confuses

Six comparisons for the points that a dictionary cannot separate for you, because the confusion is not inside either entry — it is that both come out the same in English. Each page gives the rule, a decision table, minimal pairs where both sentences are correct, and the mistakes to avoid.

은/는 vs 이/가 Topic and subject Both come out as nothing in English, and they are not interchangeable. 1급 · TOPIK 1 은/는 vs 을/를 When the object becomes the topic Why 김치를 좋아해요 and 김치는 좋아해요 are both correct and mean different things. 1급 · TOPIK 1 에 vs 에서 Two ways to say where One marks where something is, the other where something happens. 1급 · TOPIK 1 으로 vs 에 Direction, means, and destination 에 is where you are going. (으)로 is which way you are heading — and what you are getting there with. 1급 · TOPIK 1 도 vs 만 Also and only One adds to the list, one cuts everything else off it. Both push out 이/가 and 을/를. 1급 · TOPIK 1 부터 vs 까지 From here to there 부터 and 까지 are a pair, not rivals — the real question is when 'from' is 부터 and when it is 에서. 1급 · TOPIK 1

자주 묻는 질문Common questions

Why are Korean particles so hard for English speakers?

Because English marks the same distinctions with word order and does not mark others at all. There is no English slot corresponding to 은/는, so there is nothing to translate it into — which is why a definition alone never settles the question and a side-by-side comparison does.

Which particle pair should I sort out first?

은/는 versus 이/가, by a distance. It appears in the first sentence you ever build and stays wrong for years if it is learned as "they're both subject markers". 에 versus 에서 is the next one, and is much easier — the verb decides it.