Contents

---

1.  Introduction

2.  Bound nouns

3.  Plurals

4.  Nominalisation

5.  Pronouns

6.  Additional details

7.  Associated grammar

8.  See also

9.  Bibliography

---

The word ‘noun’ comes from thr Latin ‘nomen’ meaning ‘name’. Nouns are the names given to things in the world. A book is something made of papers bound together and is used for learning/enjoyment. The word ‘book’ is the name given to this item.

The Korean nameword for ‘noun’ is 명사(名詞) where 명(名) means ‘name’. This character comes from 夕 (shape of the crescent moon) and 口 (shape of the mouth). The only way to identify ourselves in the dark is to say our names. This is how nouns work; they give light to things in the world.

Korean nouns come after modifiers and before particles.

검은 고양이가
black cat

---

In Korean, there are two types of bound nouns (nouns which do not appear independently), counter nouns and defective nouns. Counter nouns are required when counting items.

[item] [number] [counter]
고양이  세   마리
Three cats.

Defective nouns on the other hand are used in modifying expressions:

이 것
this thing

예쁜 것
a beautiful thing

언니것
Sister’s thing

See the respective entries for more details.

---

Korean nouns do not have singular and plural forms.

Compare:

고양이 한 마리
one cat

고양이 세 마리
three cats

In certain contexts, -들 can be used to mark plurality. When exactly to mark nouns with -들 is a common question among Korean learners. -들 most frequently occurs with human nouns and less frequently with (non-human) animate nouns. It’s rarely used with inanimate nouns. Even with human nouns, -들 is usually omitted because plurality is often indicated in its absence. For example, 사람 and 사람들 can both indicate multiple people (by contextual clues).

친구 많이 있다.
I have lots of friends.

Here the use of -들 would be unnatural because plurality is indicated by 많이. In the same way, -들 is never used with counters where plurality is already indicated (친구 세 명).

One instance where -들 is always used is with demonstrative words (이, 그, 저). This is because speakers need to distinguish between referring to one person or multiple people (그 사람 VS 그 사람들).

---

Nominalisation is where something (usually a verb) becomes a noun.

먹다 → 먹이 = 먹+이
to eat → food

지우다 → 지우개 = 지우+개
to erase → eraser

막다 → 마개 = 막+애
to clog → a plug

지다 → 지게 = 지+게
to carry (on the back) → wooden frame for carrying loads on the back

묻다 → 무덤 = 무+엄
to bury → grave

맞다 → 마중 = 맞+웅
to meet/face → a meeting

걷다 → 걸음 = 걸+음
to walk → a step

여행하다 → 여행하기 = 여행하+기
to travel → (act of) travelling

공부하다 → 공부하는 것 = 공부하+는 것
to study → (act of) studying

Here the verb takes a nominaliser (이, 개, 애, 게, 엄, 웅, (으)ㅁ, 기, M 것) and becomes a noun. The productive nominalisers (the ones to know) are ㅁ, 기 and 것. 이 is sometimes used, though is usually found in fossilised nouns. The remainder mentioned above are only found in a few fossilised nouns and are presented only for illustrative purposes.

-지 is sometimes also considered a nominaliser, though its status as such depends on different perspectives of grammar. Historically, it originated from 기.

Certain grammar patterns are built on nominalisation. For instance:

-기 시작하다 (to start)

비가 오기 시작했다
It began to rain

See the entry on nominalisation for more details.

---

[Please ignore: placeholder for future update]

---

[Please ignore: placeholder for future update]

---

[Please ignore: placeholder for future update]

---

[Please ignore: placeholder for future update]

---

Affiliate links help support uK.

— Chang, S.J. (1996). Korean. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
— Lee, I., & Ramsey, S.R. (2000). The Korean Language. Albany: State University of New York Press.
— Martin, S. E. (1992). A Reference Grammar of Korean. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing.
— Sohn, H. (1999). The Korean Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
— Song, J. (2005). The Korean Language: Structure, use and context. New York: Routledge.

---