“What is this?” in Korean: 이게 뭐예요? vs. 이건 뭐예요?

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“What is this?” in Korean: 이게 뭐예요? vs. 이건 뭐예요?

이거 뭐예요? 이건 뭐예요? 이게 뭐예요?

These three sentences are all basically translated to “What is this?” but they can have slightly different meanings and tones.

이거 = this, this thing, this one뭐 = what-예요 = the present tense conjugation of 이다, in polite form

The 1st form, 이거 뭐예요? is just a combination of these three elements, and no particle is being used. In other words, a particle was omitted after 이거. So you can use this phrase to ask “What is this?” in the most neutral way.

The 2nd form, 이건 뭐예요? is shortened from 이거는 뭐예요? or 이것은 뭐예요? And because you are using the topic marking particle -은/는, you can show contrast or give a conversation-start kind of vibe. Imagine yourself walking into a room and seeing something on the table, and you wonder what it is. You ask to someone, “이건… 뭐예요?” meaning “Um… as for this thing, (waiting for attention) what is it?” You can say that 이건 뭐예요? can often sound more “soft” and less blunt or direct than 이거 뭐예요? in many cases. (It really depends on the tone of your voice, though.)

The 3rd form, 이게 뭐예요? is shortened from 이것이 뭐예요? And because -이 is the “subject marking” particle, you are focusing more on WHAT this thing is. When you are surprised or upset after seeing something you didn’t expect, you will probably use 이게 뭐예요? more often than 이거 뭐예요? or 이건 뭐예요? (Again, it depends on the situation and your tone.)

This is the general difference among these three phrases, and you will need more practice to completely understand the subtle nuances of sentence variations like these. If you need more help with particles, check out our one-stop guide video here!

If you have a basic understanding of the particles -은, -는, -이, and -가, you can also move on to these lessons about word contractions in the Korean language.

Level 4 Lesson 17 – Word Contractions (Part 1) Level 4 Lesson 23 – Word Contractions (Part 2)

These lessons are in Level 4 of our Essential Korean Curriculum. Click on the banner below to see the full table of contents for TTMIK Level 4.

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