[Grammar] -에서 Place particle

-에서 Place particle

 

We have learned the place particle -에 on the previous post(click), -에 is a place particle which means ‘existence(-에 있어요/없어요)’ or ‘direction(-에 가요/와요)’.

-에서 is also a place particle, but this is for an action, such as “I work at home”, “I study at the library” or “I eat lunch at a restaurant”.  In those sentences, ‘work’, ‘study’ and ‘eat’ have actions, you “do” something.  Let’s look at sentences below.

집에서 텔레비전을 봐요.(보다:watch)	I am watching TV at home.
학교에서 공부해요.(공부하다:study)	I am studying at my school.
회사에서 일해요.(일하다:work)	I am working at my company.
도서관에서 책을 읽어요.(읽다:read)	I am reading books at the library.
커피숍에서 친구를 만나요.(만나다:meet)	I am meeting my friend at the coffee shop.
극장에서 영화를 봐요.(보다:watch)	I am watching a movie at the theater.
백화점에서 신발을 사요.(사다:buy)	I am buying shoes at the department store.
친구 집에서 컴퓨터 게임해요.(게임하다:play a game)	I am playing a computer game at my friend’s home.

You can also listen to the pronunciation here.

* Here is the difference between 에 and 에서. -에 is used for existence(있어요/없어요/살아요) and destination(가요/와요/다녀요), while 에서 is used for action verbs.

 

* 에서 also means ‘from a place’, check this out by clicking here.

[Grammar] -에 particle

-에 is a particle that has many meanings. (It has 16 different meanings!!) In this post, I am going to explain three main uses.

1. Place (existence) : -에 often with 있어요/없어요 and 살아요, it means something/someone is at/on/in a place.
선생님이 학교에 있어요.  The teacher is at the school.
민수 씨가 도서관에 있어요.  Minsu is at the library.
동생이 집에 있어요.  My younger sister(brother) is at home.
오빠가 집에 없어요.  My older brother is not at home.

2. Place (destination) : -에 often with 가요(go)/와요(come)/다녀요(attend), it indicates a destination.
저는 지금 집에 가요. I am going home.
화장실에 가요. I am going to the restroom.
어디에 가요? Where are you going?
미나 씨가 도서관에 가요. Mina is going to the library.
언제 한국에 와요? When are you coming to Korea?
저는 A대학교에 다녀요. I am attending at A University.

3. Time : -에 also means verb/adjective happens at/in/on the time.
내년에 한국에 가요. I am going to Korea next year.
월요일에 친구 집에 가요. I am going to my friend’s house on Monday.
아침에 학교에 있어요. I am at school in the morning.
9시에 아침 먹어요. I eat the breakfast at 9 o’clock.
As you can see, you can use two 에 in one sentence which are different meanings.

You should add 에 after most time nouns, but some time nouns don’t need 에 such as 오늘, 어제, 내일, 매일/매주/매달/매년, 언제, 지금.
오늘 백화점에 가요.  I am going to a department store today.
매일 공부해요. I study every day.
지금 뭐 해요? What are you doing now?

And if there are more than two time nouns, you can just add 에 for the last time noun. For example,
오늘 오후에 영화를 봐요. I am going to watch a movie this afternoon.
이번 주 월요일에 시간이 없어요. I don’t have time this Monday.
다음 주 금요일 4시에 만나요. Let’s meet at 4 next Friday.
내년 9월 10일 5시에 결혼해요. I am going to get married at 5 o’clock on September 10^th next year.

• Many students get confused by -에(place) and -에서(place), if you want to learn more about this please click here.