Particles 을/를

What You Will Learn in This Unit

In this unit, you will learn the particle 을/를, which follows the object, that is, the noun that receives the action. You will decide whether to use 을 or 를 based on whether the final letter of the preceding word has a batchim (final consonant), and you will memorize verbs that commonly appear with objects as pairs. You will also learn why 을/를 is often dropped in speech and why 좋아하다 and 좋다 take different particles.

Forms According to the Presence of a Batchim (Final Consonant)

을/를 is a particle that indicates the object toward which an action is directed in a sentence. Which form attaches is determined by whether the final letter of the preceding word has a batchim. If there is a batchim, 을 is used; if there is no batchim, 를 is used. The batchim is considered letter by letter. For example, the final letter 과 in '사과'(apple) has no batchim, so it becomes '사과를', while the final letter 면 in '라면'(ramen) has the batchim ㄴ, so it becomes '라면을'.

In the table above, words whose pronunciation differs from their spelling have the actual sound written in square brackets. The 을 after a batchim is read with the batchim carried over to the initial ㅇ position of the following syllable, so it sounds like '바블' and '채글'. When choosing a particle, first check whether the preceding word has a batchim, not the shape of the letters.

Frequently Used Verbs and Their Pairs

Since 을/를 often appears together with specific verbs, it is convenient to memorize 'noun + 을/를 + verb' as one chunk. The following table shows pairs frequently encountered in basic vocabulary.

All of these verbs describe a movement that reaches an object, so 을/를 attaches after the object. In the same way, learn '커피를 마시다' (to drink coffee), '편지를 쓰다' (to write a letter), and '음악을 듣다' (to listen to music) as pairs. If the verb paired with a noun changes, the particle may also change, so memorize the noun and the verb together.