TOPIK I · LEVEL 1
-에게/한테
에게/한테 attaches to a person or animal to mark who receives something or who an action is directed at, like 'to' in English.
조사ParticlesHan: A school is a place/organization, not a person, so it takes 에, not 에게/한테.
Examples
어제 친구에게 편지를 썼어요.Yesterday I wrote a letter to my friend.
동생한테 생일 선물을 줬어요.I gave my younger sibling a birthday present.
엄마한테 전화할 거예요.I'm going to call my mom.
아침마다 강아지한테 밥을 줘요.I feed my puppy every morning.
Don’t mix up
-에게/한테vsN + 에에 is for places, organizations and things, not people: 회사에 전화했어요 vs 친구한테 전화했어요.
-에게/한테vsN + 께께 is the honorific version for respected people: 할머니께 꽃을 드렸어요.
-에게/한테vsN + 에게서/한테서에게서/한테서 means 'from' a person, the source, not the receiver: 친구한테서 전화가 왔어요.
How to build it
N (person/animal)+에게 / 한테
친구 → 친구에게 / 친구한테 (same form after a vowel or a consonant: 선생님 → 선생님한테)
- Use it only with people and animals. For places, companies, plants and things use 에 (회사에 전화해요, 꽃에 물을 줘요).
- The meaning is the same: 한테 is casual and spoken, 에게 sounds more formal and is common in writing.
- For someone you must respect (teacher, grandparents, boss), use 께 together with honorific verbs like 드리다.
- With 받다 or 배우다 it can mean 'from', but to clearly say 'from a person' use 에게서/한테서.
Classic mistake
Wrong: 저는 학교에게 전화했어요.
Right: 저는 학교에 전화했어요.
A school is a place/organization, not a person, so it takes 에, not 에게/한테.
Practise -에게/한테 on real TOPIK questions
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All TOPIK grammar- -(으)로-(으)로 marks the direction you head toward, the means or tool you use, or what something is made of.
- -(이)나(이)나 links two nouns as alternatives ("A or B"), and after a number it shows an approximate amount in questions or a surprisingly large amount in statements.
- -도-도 attaches to a noun to say that this thing is 'also' included, adding it to something already mentioned.
- -만Attach 만 to a noun to say 'only this one and nothing else'.
- -에에 marks the place where something is, the place you go to, or the time when something happens.
- -의-의 links two nouns to show possession or belonging: A의 B = A's B.
- -은/는-은/는 marks what the sentence is about (the topic), often something already known, or something you are contrasting with another thing.
- -을/를을/를 sits right after a noun to show it is the thing the action is done to, the direct object.
- -이/가이/가 attaches to a noun to show it is the subject, the one who does something or is described, and often presents it as new or focused information.