Korean question words in useful sentences

01 / Understand

Ask for the missing part of the message

An information question asks the listener to supply a missing person, thing, place, time, or other detail. Korean can place the question expression where that information belongs in an ordinary sentence. In 책을 읽어요, the book is the object of reading. Replacing the object with 무엇을 gives 무엇을 읽어요?, asking what the listener reads. You do not need to move an English equivalent of do before the subject.

The polite ending can look the same in a statement and a question. 가요 can state that someone goes, while 가요? can ask whether someone goes. In speech, context and intonation help distinguish the message. Information questions add a question expression, but you should not assume that every spoken question has one identical pitch shape. Listen to complete questions rather than attaching an exaggerated English contour to each syllable.

An omitted subject still needs to be understood. 뭐 먹어요? can ask what your listener eats in a suitable conversation, but its grammar does not explicitly contain you. If you are looking at a child's lunch with another adult, the understood eater may be the child. Give the necessary context, and supply a name or topic when it would prevent confusion. The question word identifies what is unknown; it does not automatically identify every other participant.

A short answer can supply just the missing noun or time expression when the rest is shared. For learning, try both a brief answer and a complete sentence. The complete version lets you check the particle and predicate, while the brief version helps you recognize what information the listener actually needed.

02 / Understand

Separate what something is from what someone does

무엇 and its common shorter form 뭐 ask about a thing or matter. In 이게 뭐예요?, the speaker asks what the indicated thing is. The answer could identify it as a book, a ticket, or another object. The ending belongs to the noun identification pattern, so the question is not asking what activity the listener performs. Learn 뭐예요 as the standard spelling of this useful polite form.

With an action predicate, the unknown thing can be the object. 무엇을 읽어요? asks what someone reads, and 무엇을 먹어요? asks what someone eats. The contracted object form 뭘 is also common. In familiar conversation, 뭐 often appears without an explicit object particle. These choices differ in form, but they can ask for the same missing object in a clear situation.

Compare the answer you expect before choosing the question. A reply naming an object fits 이게 뭐예요?, while a reply naming the activity fits 뭐 해요? Both contain 뭐, yet the predicates establish different tasks for the listener. Do not decide from the English word what alone. In a writing exercise that specifically requests an explicit object form, use 무엇을 or 뭘 as instructed. Outside that focused task, an omitted particle is not automatically a grammatical mistake.

03 / Understand

Use nuga for a subject and nugu in other roles

누구 asks who, but the subject combination has the established form 누가. 누가 와요? asks who comes, with the unknown person doing the coming. Do not build this ordinary subject form as 누구가. A reply such as 제가 와요 identifies the speaker as the person who comes, using the humble first person subject form 제가.

Other particles can follow 누구 in the usual way. 누구를 만나요? asks whom someone meets, with the unknown person as the object of meeting. 누구예요? asks who a person is through the noun identification construction. These are different grammatical jobs, so 누가 cannot replace 누구 everywhere merely because both expressions translate with who in English.

A short exchange can leave much unsaid. If someone reports that a person arrived, 누가요? can request the identity of the arriving person. In early practice, however, a full question makes the role easier to see. Compare 누가 만나요? with 누구를 만나요?: the first asks about the person doing the meeting, and the second about the person being met. Both can be grammatical with enough context. A good exercise specifies which participant is unknown instead of marking one question universally wrong.

04 / Understand

Keep the location relationship in a where question

어디 asks where. The particle after it can preserve the relationship between the place and the predicate. 어디에 있어요? asks where something or someone is located. 어디에 가요? asks where someone goes. The same 에 can occur because the first predicate describes location and the second names a destination; the verb tells you which interpretation fits.

For the place where an activity happens, use 어디에서 in the focused pattern here. 어디에서 공부해요? asks where the studying takes place. An answer such as 도서관에서 공부해요 keeps the activity location relationship and replaces the unknown place with a library. In contrast, 도서관에 가요 describes going to the library. It does not itself say that studying happens there.

Conversational questions often appear in shorter forms, including 어디 가요? and 어디 있어요? when the relationship is clear. Learn to recognize them, but keep the particles visible while practicing the contrast. The aim is to choose a useful relationship, not to claim that every real question must include every particle. Ask yourself whether you are locating a person, identifying a destination, or locating an activity, and choose an answer that supplies the same kind of information.

05 / Understand

Ask for a time or a calendar date

언제 asks when. The answer might be a broad time such as tomorrow, a day, or a more precise appointment time, depending on the conversation. 언제 와요? asks when the understood person comes. 내일 와요 supplies tomorrow as the missing time. The predicate remains at the end, and the answer changes the unknown time into the information the listener needs.

A calendar date needs a more specific question. 오늘이 며칠이에요? asks what date it is today. The answer uses a date rather than merely saying morning or later. Learn the spelling 며칠 as a whole word. It is not written 몇일, even though its meaning can lead learners to associate it with 몇 and 일. 며칠 can also ask how many days in other constructions; the surrounding sentence determines the requested information.

When arranging a meeting, a broad when question may be a useful opening, but a reply can still leave the exact time unsettled. A followup can narrow the question to the date or hour. For this lesson, distinguish the information categories before memorizing more number vocabulary. If a prompt asks for a calendar date, select a date question. If it asks when a visit happens without narrowing the unit, 언제 is the useful general choice.

06 / Understand

Distinguish a method from an evaluation

어떻게 asks how an action is carried out or how something happens. 한국어를 어떻게 공부해요? asks about the way someone studies Korean. A useful answer would describe a method, resource, or routine. It would not simply identify the language again, because 한국어 already supplies that information in the question.

어때요 asks how something is or what someone thinks of it. 이 책은 어때요? invites an evaluation of the book, such as whether it is interesting or difficult. The question does not ask for instructions on operating a book. Both Korean expressions can correspond to English how, but their constructions and the answers they invite differ. Treat them as two useful patterns rather than interchangeable translations.

A positive description such as 좋아요 can answer an evaluation question when the context supplies what is being evaluated. It is not a complete answer to a request for a study method merely because both questions contain how in English. To choose between these forms, imagine the response first: steps or a method point toward 어떻게 with an action predicate, while an assessment points toward 어때요. This answer based check is especially helpful when an English prompt is too short to reveal its intended meaning.

07 / Understand

Ask which one or how many

어느 before a noun asks which member of a relevant set is intended. 어느 책을 읽어요? asks which book someone reads. The noun remains after 어느, and its object particle follows the entire noun phrase. You can answer with 이 책을 읽어요 if the book near the speaker is the intended selection. This structure connects a question modifier with the demonstratives already learned.

몇 before a counter asks how many units there are in a question. 몇 개 means how many items, and 몇 명 means how many people. The counter identifies the kind of unit being counted. A which book question requests a selection, while a how many books question requests a quantity. They help solve different information gaps even when both speakers are looking at the same collection of books.

Question expressions can have other uses in context, and a word list alone cannot guarantee a question reading. Here, practice complete polite questions with an explicit situation and a plausible answer. First identify the missing information, then choose the expression and its grammatical role, and finally check that your answer actually supplies what was requested. Produce a question and answer pair from memory before opening the recognition questions below.

Notice the difference

Common mistakes

From understanding to using

Make your own example.

Try these without answer choices. Say your answer aloud or write it below, then compare your reasoning with the model.