#subject marker

[filipino-journey]

Markers #1: ang

Hey guys! Kumusta kayo? I've been focusing on Filipino markers this week and I want to share what I've learnt with you guys 😊 I've decided to focus on one marker per post, since it's a bit overwhelming to learn them all at once in my experience.

Disclaimer: I'm a learner and only a beginner, so in no way an expert. If I made a mistake feel free to tell me in a kind manner and I'll change it. Salamat!

Today we're going to discuss the marker ang. So when do you use it?:

It's a subject marker, so you use it when the actor is in focus.

Many people compare it to the English "the" and it's often used in the same sense. Don't see this as an almighty rule tho.

Adjective intensifier

It's not used in front of names, those have different markers that we will discuss in another post.

Examples (I found these on the internet):

Kumain ang babae ng tinapay.

(The woman ate bread)

Kumain >> verb meaning "ate". In Filipino verbs often have two different conjugations. One used when it applies to the actor being in focus and one used when it says something about the object. I might make a post about this once I understand this concept better myself.

Ang babae >> the woman (subject >> the woman is the one who ate)

Ng tinapay >> the bread (object >> the bread was eaten by the subject, namely the woman)

Nasa mesa ang kape.

(The coffee is on the table)

Nasa mesa >> on table. Nasa is a marker indicating location/position

Ang kape >> the coffee (subject)

Natulog ang bata sa kwarto.

(The child slept in the room)

Natulog >> slept (actor focused verb)

Ang bata >> the child (subject)

Sa kwarto >> in room. Sa is a preposition meaning to, at, in, for and on.

Ang ganda ng babae.*

(The woman is very beautiful)

Ang ganda >> so/very beautiful. The regular word for beautiful is maganda, but when the intensifier ang is used you only use the root word which is ganda (beauty)

Ng babae >> the woman. Whenever ang is used as intensifier the subject is preceded by ng instead of ang.

* The sentence without intensifier: Maganda ang babae. (The woman is beautiful)

[koreanfromdummies]

Okay, smarties, time to kick it up a notch! Today is gonna be tough because we’re gonna talk about the subject marker ㅠ.ㅠ 

This is difficult because it’s actually a lot like the topic marker and often you can use them in each others place, although with (slightly) different meanings. So the difference between subject and topic can be hard to grasp but I’ve had it explained like:  

Subject: Cake Topic: Cupcakes  

Now I’ve been searching like a mad Dums (like seriously, books, website, old notes), but it’s really hard to find any definitive way of saying when you have to use what because a lot of topics can be subjects as well. You can say that topic markers have at topic and comment structure, but it doesn’t seem to me like that cannot be the case with the subject marker. Plus sometimes the so-called subject marker doesn’t even mark the subject but has more of a “no other than something” function. 

But (!) don’t despair yet. I’ll make a couple of examples and you can see how 이/가 can be used.      

이름이 뭐예요?  What’s your name?

고양이가 부드러워요.  Cats are soft. 

Here 이름 and 고양이 are the subjects. When meeting a consonant it’s 이 and when it’s a vowel at the end it’s 가. Don’t think there’s much to add to the subject.

리사는 한국 사람이 예요? Is Lisa Korean?

Here you can see that you can have both topic and subject markers in the same sentence. Here it’s pretty obvious that the nationality is the subject of the conversation and that Lisa is the topic. Or maybe it’s putting emphasis on it being Lisa because it’s a conversation between or involving several parties. 

제가 케이크 만들어요. I made the cake.

Lastly, I wanna show that 저 when meeting the subject marker 가 changes to 제가. (Same goes for banmal 나 which becomes 내가 - but don’t use banmal until you’re comfortable in jondaemal!) Also, I wanted to show the “none other than something” function, in this case, it is no one but I who is making the cake.   

Honestly, this is just super confusing and difficult to get on top of if you don’t have anything like it in your native language, so all I can encourage you to do is listen to a lot of natives speak and try to see how they use it. You will probably be able to make yourself understood no matter what, so don’t be shy; use it! Also, as always I appreciate any and all clarifications and corrections you smarties might have. Inbox me! 

[learning-k0rean]

S께서

[...·kke·seo]

(honorific speech) (subject marker) (eq. to 이/가)

Always used with the verbs 있다, 없다 and 아니다;

Always used behind verbs and adjectives describing a state (when the verb is related to the subject), and when S is not the object of an action, hence the object marker 을/를 cannot be its suffix) ➡ N꺼서 V/ADJ;

Also used as a subject marker within a “that” clause, to emphasize the secondary subject (S1 V1… that… S2 V2…).

Contrarily to the topic marker T은/는 (putting emphasis on T = it is T that…, as for T, …), the important information is behind the particle.

께서 is used in honorific speech, hence it is only used when adressing or talking about someone we should show respect to (for hierarchical or other societal reasons)