A1
을/를 — the object
How the Korean object particle 을/를 works, which verbs take 이/가 instead, and when the particle can be left out.
을/를 marks the object. 을 after a consonant, 를 after a vowel. The verb comes last.
밥을 먹어요.
Babeul meogeoyo.
I eat rice.
영화를 봐요.
Yeonghwareul bwayo.
I watch a film.
It is often dropped
In casual speech the object particle disappears when the meaning is clear. This is normal rather than lazy, and it is one reason spoken Korean sounds so much shorter than written Korean.
밥 먹었어요?
Bap meogeosseoyo?
Have you eaten?
은/는 and 이/가 drop in the same way. What almost never drops is 에 or 에서 — the location particles carry information that word order cannot recover.
Not every English object takes 을/를
좋다, 싫다, 있다, 없다 and 필요하다 take 이/가, because in Korean they are adjectives or intransitive verbs.
커피를 좋아요.
커피가 좋아요.
좋다 is be good, be pleasing, so the coffee is its subject. The verb 좋아하다 — to like — is genuinely transitive and does take 를: 커피를 좋아해요.
That pair is worth learning together. 좋다 and 좋아하다 differ by two syllables and by which particle they demand.
를 with movement verbs
Some verbs of motion take 을/를 on a place, where English uses a preposition.
길을 건너요.
Gireul geonneoyo.
I cross the road.