When speaking Korean with students, I often notice that some begin every sentence with "저는" (I) or "당신은" (You). This habit makes sense, especially for English speakers, because subjects are always required in English. However, Korean works differently. In everyday conversation, subjects are often omitted when they are clear from context. Learning to do this will make your Korean sound much more natural and fluent.
Why Do We Omit Subjects in Korean?
In Korean, redundancy is avoided whenever possible. If something can be easily understood from context, it’s usually left out. Especially in one-on-one conversations, it’s clear that the conversation is between "me" and "you," so explicitly stating "저는" (I) or "당신은" (You) every time sounds unnatural and unnecessarily repetitive. This results in shorter, smoother sentences, making communication more efficient and natural.
Pros and Cons of Omitting the Subject
Let’s look at a simple conversation:
- "밥 먹었어?" (Did you eat?) - "응, 먹었어." (Yeah, I ate.)
In this exchange, the subject ("I" and "you") is completely omitted, yet it’s perfectly clear who the speaker and listener are. Notice that even the object marker "을" (indicating "밥" as the object) is dropped, making the conversation sound casual and natural.
Compare this with explicitly stating everything:
- "너는 밥을 먹었어?" / "응, 나는 밥을 먹었어."
Grammatically correct, but sounds overly formal and heavy for a casual, friendly conversation.
However, omitting the subject can sometimes cause confusion. For example:
- "오늘 한국에 도착해요." (Arriving in Korea today.)
Without additional context, it’s unclear who is arriving. When I use this example while teaching, students often ask, "누가 한국에 도착해요?" (Who is arriving in Korea?). The answer: "I don’t know—context is needed!" When speaking with multiple people or in ambiguous situations, specifying the subject becomes necessary to avoid confusion.
Practical Tip for Learners
In real conversations, especially one-on-one, you can safely omit the subject most of the time. When the subject is obvious, leaving it out will make your Korean sound much more fluent and natural. However, be mindful in situations where multiple people are involved, or where the subject isn’t clear. In those cases, it’s better to explicitly state who or what you’re talking about.
Learning when to omit subjects is a key step toward sounding natural in Korean. Focus on understanding the context of conversations and practice building sentences without always starting with "저는" or "당신은." If you want more structured practice in mastering natural Korean conversation, the Podo Korean app offers thousands of real-life dialogues recorded by a native speaker. You can listen, repeat, and internalize authentic conversational Korean easily every day.
