A1
Questions and question words
How Korean forms questions without changing word order, and where 뭐, 누구, 어디, 언제 and 왜 go in a sentence.
In the 해요 form a question looks exactly like a statement. Only the intonation rises.
학생이에요?
Haksaeng-ieyo?
Are you a student?
밥 먹었어요?
Bap meogeosseoyo?
Have you eaten?
Written Korean needs the question mark, because nothing else marks it. The formal 합니다 level does change — 합니까? — but 해요 does not.
Question words stay in place
They take the slot the answer will occupy, with the particle the answer would take.
뭐 먹어요?
Mwo meogeoyo?
What are you eating?
어디에 가요?
Eodie gayo?
Where are you going?
언제 왔어요?
Eonje wasseoyo?
When did you come?
Answering is substitution: 어디에 가요 → 학교에 가요. Nothing is reordered, which makes Korean questions far easier than English ones.
The common set
| 뭐 / 무엇 | what |
| 누구 | who |
| 어디 | where |
| 언제 | when |
| 왜 | why |
| 어떻게 | how |
| 몇 | how many |
| 얼마 | how much (price) |
뭐 is the spoken form and 무엇 the written one.
누구 becomes 누가
As a subject, 누구 plus 가 contracts.
누구가 왔어요?
누가 왔어요?
누구 + 가 is always 누가. The uncontracted form is not used.
Question words take 이/가, not 은/는
New information cannot be a topic — see 이/가.