에
e
Not seven meanings — one dot, five places to put it
The picture You put a single dot on a map. Only where the dot lands ever changes. 에 lays down a single dot; 에서 draws a box around the place so the action can happen inside it.
Where the picture shows up in 에
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the point you reach
지금 병원에 가요.
ji-geum byeong-wo-ne ga-yo
I'm going to the hospital now.
A dot goes down on the hospital's spot on the map, and footsteps run toward it
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the point in time
아홉 시에 시작합니다.
a-hop si-e si-ja-kam-ni-da
It starts at nine.
A dot is pressed onto the nine-o'clock mark on a clock face
Never with 오늘, 어제, 지금 — 오늘에 만나요 is wrong.
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the point in space
서랍 안에 있어요.
seo-rap a-ne i-sseo-yo
It's in the drawer.
The drawer slides open and the thing is sitting on one spot of its floor
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the point that hits you
감기에 걸렸어요.
gam-gi-e geol-lyeo-sseo-yo
I've caught a cold.
You are walking along and your collar catches on a hook labelled 'a cold', pulling you up short
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the point of price
한 개에 이천 원이에요.
han gae-e i-cheon wo-ni-e-yo
It's 2,000 won each.
A single 2,000-won price tag settles onto one item
에 for the price, 로 for the means: you pay 카드로.
All of it in one picture
에 does not carry many meanings; it only puts one dot in different places. Put the dot on the hospital on the map and it is where you are heading; press it onto the nine mark on the clock face and it is when things start; drop it inside the drawer and it is where the thing sits. Put it on the spot where a hook caught you and you have caught a cold; put it on one item and it is the price fixed to that single one. So whenever you see 에, picture one dot that has just landed somewhere.