We know that in Korea, degree of politeness is important. There are informal ways and formal ways to say " I " in Korean.
In this post, we focus on the informal ways first.
1. 나 [ na ]
2. 나는 [ naneun ]
2a. 난 [ nan ]
3. 내가 [ naega ]
4. 나도 [ nado ]
4a. 나두 [ nadu ]
5. 나를 [ naleul ]
5a. 날 [ nal ]
Don't be scared by the above forms. We will discuss them one by one.
Form 1. 나 [ na ] = I
It is the simplest form of "I". Every other form of "I" was actually transformed from this 나 [ na ].
Form 2. 나는 [ naneun ]
나는 [ naneun ] = 나 [ na ] + 는 [ neun]
As you can see, 나는 [ naneun ] actually started with 나 [ na ] (Form 1 above).
는 [ neun] is attached to 나 [ na ] (I) and is used to tell others that the subject of the sentence is "I".
Form 2a. 난 [ nan ]
난 [ nan ] has exactly the same meaning as 나는 [ naneun ] mentioned above.
It is just an abbreviation of 나는 [ naneun ].
Form 3. 내가 [ naega ]
내가 [ naega ] = 나 [ na ] + 가 [ ga]
and changed 나 [ na ] to 내 [ nae ] when 가 [ ga] is added
가 [ ga] is like the article "the" in English and it was added after 내 [ nae].
It is used to describe 내 [ nae] (I), stressing that the focus of the sentence is "I".
Difference between Form 2 나는 [ naneun ] and Form 3 내가 [ naega ]
It is very difficult to differentiate 나는 [ naneun ] and 내가 [ naega ] as both of them have the same meaning as "I". Followings are what I have figured out:
나는 [ naneun ] is used when you are telling what you generally do.
내가 [ naega ] is used when you are telling that you are the one who does that thing.
For example:
What did you do?
==> 나는 마셨다 [ naneun masyeossda ] (I drank)
You are telling that you "DRANK"
Who bought a new dress?
==> 내가 샀어 [ naega sasseo] (I bought)
You are telling that it was "YOU" who bought the dress.
Another easy way to distinguish them is to simply use 내가 [ naega ] to mean "That is me who"
내가 샀어 [ naega sasseo] (I bought)
==> meaning: That is me who bought
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