은/는
eun / neun
Why Korean says 나는, not 내가
The picture Switching on a stage light before you speak: this is what we are talking about now. Whatever the light misses goes dark on its own. 은/는 is the stage light that decides what we are talking about; 이/가 is the finger that picks out which one of them it is.
Where the picture shows up in 은/는
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what the light is on
저는 오늘 야간 근무예요.
jeo-neun o-neul ya-gan geun-mu-ye-yo
I'm on the night shift today.
A speaker on stage pulls the spotlight down to her own feet while the people behind her stay in the dark
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two lights
커피는 있는데 우유는 없어요.
keo-pi-neun in-neun-de u-yu-neun eop-seo-yo
We have coffee, but no milk.
Two spotlights: one on a full coffee pot, one on a milk carton with nothing left in it
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already lit
그 서류는 과장님이 가져갔어요.
geu seo-ryu-neun gwa-jang-ni-mi ga-jeo-ga-sseo-yo
That document — the manager took it.
The spotlight swings back onto the document it had already lit once before
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moving the light
오늘은 좀 쉬세요.
o-neu-reun jom swi-se-yo
Today at least, get some rest.
The beam slides across a calendar, skips the other days and stops on today's square
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a wide beam
한국은 여름에 비가 많이 와요.
han-gu-geun yeo-reu-me bi-ga ma-ni wa-yo
In Korea it rains a lot in summer.
The beam widens until it covers the whole of Korea on the map at once
한국이 비가 와요 is about right now; 한국은 is about how it always is.
All of it in one picture
은/는 is not a meaning; it is one light switch. Point it at your own feet and you become who today's story is about; split it in two and the coffee side is bright while the milk side goes dark; swing it back onto that document and you are saying 'about the one we both know'. Slide it along the calendar onto today's square and the other days stop mattering; widen it until it covers all of Korea and you are talking about how things always are. So wherever 은/는 lands, there is a hand saying look here — the rest can stay dark.