Korean grammar · Level 1 · 1급
네 / 아니요 · 어느 나라 사람이에요?
Yes, no, and “Where are you from?”
Taught in Level 1, Unit 1: Hello, I'm Hoya
the first two questions in almost every first meeting are “Are you a student?” and “Where are you from?” — this is how you answer both.
네 means “yes” and 아니요 means “no”. 네 also means “I see” or “I'm listening”, so you will hear it all through a conversation, not only as an answer. To ask where someone is from, use 어느 나라 사람이에요?, literally “which country's person are you?”. 어느 means “which”, 나라 means “country”, and 사람 means “person”. You answer with the country followed by 사람이에요. Countries do not need any special word: 미국 사람 is “American”, 일본 사람 is “Japanese”. The same pattern works for any group — 한국 사람, 외국 사람 (a foreigner) — because 사람 is just a noun.
Examples
리사 씨는 어느 나라 사람이에요?
Which country is Lisa from?
저는 독일 사람이에요.
I'm German.
아니요, 저는 일본 사람이 아니에요. 중국 사람이에요.
No, I'm not Japanese. I'm Chinese.
Practise it in context · Level 1, Unit 1
Hello, I'm Hoya
The rule with a table, Sori’s tips, practice that checks itself, a review room and a one-page cheat sheet.
Open the unit →