을/를
eul / reul
Where the verb's hand lands
The picture The verb reaches out and closes its hand on something. 을/를 tags whatever the hand closes on. 이/가 marks the side the action comes from; 을/를 marks the side the action reaches out and lands on.
Where the picture shows up in 을/를
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what the hand holds
이 서류를 복사해 주세요.
i seo-ryu-reul bok-sa-hae ju-se-yo
Please make a copy of this document.
A hand picks up the document and lays it flat on the copier glass
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what you climb onto
여기서 버스를 갈아타세요.
yeo-gi-seo beo-seu-reul ga-ra-ta-se-yo
Change to the bus here.
You let go of the rail on one bus and grab the rail of the next one standing beside it
버스에 타다 exists, but 버스를 타다 is what people actually say.
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the road it runs along
이 길을 쭉 따라가세요.
i gi-reul jjuk tta-ra-ga-se-yo
Just follow this road straight.
A palm sweeps along the road, running forward over its whole length
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the person you meet
내일 사장님을 만나요.
nae-il sa-jang-ni-meul man-na-yo
I'm meeting the boss tomorrow.
An outstretched hand closes around the boss's hand
사장님과 만나요 is meeting as two equals; 사장님을 만나요 is going to see him.
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the time it holds on to
삼 년을 기다렸어요.
sam nyeo-neul gi-da-ryeo-sseo-yo
I waited three whole years.
A three-year-long rope is wound around a fist that will not let go
All of it in one picture
을/를 is not a meaning; it is the tag that lands wherever the verb's hand closes. The hand picks up the document and lays it on the glass, so the document gets the tag; it lets go of one rail and grabs the next, so the bus gets it. The palm sweeps along the road and the road gets it; the outstretched hand meets the boss's hand and he gets it. The fist holds a three-year rope without letting go, and that stretch of time gets it too. So when you see 을/를, the action did not float in the air — it reached out and landed on something.