Spacing and particles

Korean puts spaces between words, but small grammar markers stick to the word before them.

Unlike Chinese and Japanese, Korean is written with spaces between words. This is called 띄어쓰기. The most important rule is about particles.

Particles are short markers that show a word’s role in the sentence: 은/는 (topic), 이/가 (subject), 을/를 (object), 에 (to, at), 에서 (in, from), 도 (also). They always attach directly to the word before them, with no space.

저는 학생이에요 (I am a student) has one space: 저 + 는 is one unit, and 학생 + 이에요 is another. 물을 주세요 (Please give me water) is 물 + 을, then 주세요.

Many particles come in pairs, and the choice depends on batchim. After a final consonant use 은, 이, 을: 책은, 책이, 책을. After a vowel use 는, 가, 를: 저는, 제가, 저를.

On this site you never type the spaces, but the gaps between the groups of boxes show exactly where they belong. After enough sentences, correct spacing starts to look natural to you.

Practice typing on TypeRecall Korean →

TypeRecall Korean is free, with no sign-up. You see the meaning, hear the Korean, and type it in Hangul yourself. Made by a government-certified Korean teacher with 10+ years of experience.