Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 1 - My First Steps in Korean (Lessons 1 to 30) ᚛ Lesson 23 - Possession in Korean [의]

Possession in Korean [의]

In this course: 의

We continue our journey in the world of particles with the particle that allows us to indicate the belonging of something, it is 의.

Be careful, when it comes to the possessive particle 의, it is usually pronounced 에.

Express possession

In Korean, to indicate the belonging of something to someone, the following form is used:
[possessor]의 [possessed]

You can notice that the possessor is indicated before the possessed object, as in English.

지유의 핸드폰
→ Jiyu's phone

On either side of the particle 의 we have:

• the possessor: 지유 (= Jiyu (Korean name))
• the possessed: 핸드폰 (= a cell phone)

선생님의 차
→ the teacher's car

On either side of the particle 의 we have:

• the possessor: 선생님 (= a teacher)
• the possessed: 차 (= a car)

오빠의 펜
→ my big brother's pen

On either side of the particle 의 we have:

• the possessor: 오빠 (= a big brother)
• the possessed: 펜 (= a pen)

저의 가방이에요.
→   It is my bag.

곰의 발은 커.
→ The bear's feet are big.

Note: after someone's name that ends in a consonant, we do not add 의 but 이의.

• 지민 → 지민이의
• 정국 → 정국이의

Omission of the particle

In practice, this particle is very often omitted in order to simplify sentences.

The expressions of the previous section can therefore be repeated by omitting the particle 의, as follows:

지유 핸드폰
→ Jiyu's phone

선생님 차
→ the teacher's car

오빠 펜
→ Oppa's pen

의 with personal pronouns

Be careful, with Korean personal pronouns, which we will see in the next lesson, the 의 particle cannot be omitted.

나의 가방
→ the bag of "I" = my bag

It is incorrect to write: 나 가방

너의 자전거
→ the bike of "you" = your bike

It is incorrect to write: 너 자전거

Exercises

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