Destination Particle +에 ‘to’

When you want to say that you are going somewhere, you can use :

1)   Place +에 가                (Casual)

               + (e ga)

2)   Place +에 가요             (Polite)

               + (e gayo)

+에 (+e) is equivalent to the English ‘to’. However, in English the ‘to’ in “I’m going to school” comes before the place ‘school’. In Korean, +에 (+e) is added at the end of the place word. Since +에 (+e) is a postposition, there is no space between it and the place word, as explained previously. ***See ‘Spaces Between Words’ in Unit 3. Study the examples below :

1)   학교에 가요.                                                     I’m going to school.

       Hak-kyo-e ga-yo.

2)   A: 어디 가요?                                                    Where are you going?

           Eo-di ga-yo?

       B: 집에 가요.                                                    I’m going home.

           Jib-e ga-yo.

3)   A: 어디(에) 가세요?                                          Where are you going?

           Eo-di-(e) ga-se-yo?

       B: 학교(에) 가요.                                              I’m going to school.

            Hak-kyo-(e) ga-yo.

***Note 1 : +에 is also different from the English ‘to’ in that it can be omitted in colloquial speech as long as the context does not make the meaning less clear. However, +에 cannot be omitted when the word to which +에 is attached consists of a single syllable, for example : 집, 강, 산, and so on.

***Note 2 : 에 sound as ‘e’ in set.

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