Possessive Particle: 의

Hey, that's mine! Is this yours? Possessive pronouns are used everyday, and mastering it is a quick and sure way to sound fluent in Korean. After this 15 minute Korean lesson, you will be one step closer to sounding like a Korean native!

How to pronounce 의 (eui)

Let's break down 의. It consists of:

• ㅇ : open vowel sound (no sound)
• ㅡ : eu
• l   : i

TIP: If you are finding the pronunciation difficult, try saying: 으 이 quickly! If you are finding Hangul pronunciations difficult, study these quick (15 minute) Korean lessons on Pronunciation!

It should sound like this:

How to use 의:

Pronoun + 의 + object

• 나의 책 (na-eui chek) = My book
• 선생님의 연필 (sun-seng-nim-eui yeon-pil) = Teacher's pencil

In this way, adding 의 is like adding 's in English!

In Practice:

For I and you, we rarely use 나의 and 너의. Look at the chart below to find out a quick hack to sound more fluent in Korean!

Using this knowledge, how would you say:

• This is my cup. (polite)
  • => 이건 내 컵이에요.

• Is this your water? (casual)
  • => 이거 네 (너/니) 물이야?