Where is my Korean notebook? I still remember asking this to my mom as I cannot find my notebook which contains all the essential of Korean language I study. Until now that notebook is still not found and because of that I'm starting this blog to repeat everything I studied and share it with you all =)

We are going to learn about asking where is something in this lesson. Being a forgetful person and always having short-term memory loss, we are always asking "where is my cellphone?" or "where is my pencil?". This lesson will be great for you guys to learn about preposition of place in Korean.


브루스: 꽃이 어디에 있어요?
제임스: 탁자 위에 있어요.
브루스: 의자가 어디에 있어요?
제임스: 의자가 탁자 옆에 있어요.
브루스: 체 휴대폰이 어디에 있어요?
제임스: 의자 아래에 있어요.
브루스: 연필이 어디에 있어요?
제임스: 필통에 있어요.

Translate:
Bruce: Where is the flower?
James: The flower is on top of the table.
Bruce: Where is the chair?
James: The chair is beside the table.
Bruce: Where is my cellphone?
James: It's under the chair.
Bruce: Where is the pencil?
James: It's inside pencil case.

Explanation:

1. 어디에 있어요? - 어디 is where, 있어요 is the conjugation of verb 있다 which is to exist. Remember this phrase to ask where is the object by throwing the object in front of the sentence.
2. 꽃이 어디에 있어요? - 꽃 is flower, placing the subject marker "이" after 꽃. So the whole sentence is "Where is the flower?"
3. Now to learn the preposition of place: 위 mean on top, 아래 mean under, 옆 mean beside, 앞 is in front, 뒤 is behind, and 안 is inside. Remember to add 에 after the preposition.
4. 탁자 위에 있어요 - 탁자 is table, so the sentence in conversation mean "The flower is on top of the table" as both of Bruce and James know what is on top of the table is the flower therefore 꽃 is omitted.
5. If you want to clarify what is the on top of table, simply put the 꽃 in front of the sentence. For example Bruce ask about the chair and James answer "의자가 탁자 옆에 있어요" - The chair is beside the table.
6. Notice the sentence 의자 아래에 있어요, the 아래에 is just read as 아래 because both the 래 and 에 have similar vowel pronunciation and therefore mesh together to pronounce just 아래, to make it easy to pronounce.
7. When Bruce ask "연필이 어디에 있어요?" - Where is the pencil? James answer by saying "필통에 있어요" - inside the pencil case. Notice James didn't say "필통 안에 있어요" because when we are saying thing inside something like pencil case, refrigerator, room, etc, we just skip 안 part as it is understood that something is inside.