Unit 19: Who? (누구 vs 누가)

In Unit 17, we learned that 누구 (nu-gu) means "Who".

But there is a very special rule about 누구. When "who" is the subject of the sentence (the one doing the action), its form changes!

1. 누구 as the Object (Whom)

If "who" is the object of the sentence (the person receiving the action), you use 누구.

• 누구 만났어요? = Who(m) did you meet? (You are the subject, "who" is the object being met).
• 이 선물 누구 줬어요? = Who(m) did you give this present to?

2. 누구 as the Subject (Who did it?)

If you are asking "Who did this?" or "Who is going?", then "who" is the subject.

To mark it as the subject, you must attach the subject marker 가 (from 이/가). You would expect 누구 + 가 = 누구가. But Korean doesn't say 누구가. It shortens it to 누가 (nu-ga)!

• 누가 = Who (as the subject)

Examples: * 누가 왔어요? = Who came? (Who performed the action of coming?) * 누가 먹었어요? = Who ate it? * 누가 했어요? = Who did it?

3. Comparing the two

It's very important to understand the difference between 누구 and 누가, because it completely changes the meaning of the sentence!

Look at this sentence: * 누가 전화했어요? = Who called? (Who made the phone call?) * 누구 전화했어요? = Who(m) did you call? (Who received the phone call?)

Note: Grammatically, "누구에게 전화했어요?" (To whom did you call) is more accurate for the second one, but in spoken Korean, particles are often dropped, leaving just "누구 전화했어요?". However, "누가" always keeps its subject marker built-in!

Summary

• 누구 = Who / Whom (Object)
• 누가 = Who (Subject - Who did the action?)