Wow, I'm finally back after that long break. o___o

Sorry it's been so long! Anyways~ Let's start with attatchments part 2 :D

이 and 가 are attatchments, they are used primarily as the verb 'is.' You attatch '이' or '가' to whatever your subject is.

In today's lesson, I'll use humans as the subjects.

You use '이' to a word with the last character that is  a 'batchim' and '가' for words whose last character is without 'batchims.' 

For example, the names 'Nana' (나나), 'Sunggyu' (성규), and 'Junho' (준호), the attatchment would be '가' because the last character of their names are without 'batchims.'

(Do you remember in chapter 17 the verbs? I'll use them here. If not, refer back to that chapter and refresh your memory.)

Example: 나나가 뛰어. The literal translation is: Nana (나나) is (가) run (뛰어).

That doesn't make much sense, does it? It's because the type of verb you need to use, we haven't learned it yet. The verb that we used here is in its infinitive verb, and oftentime we don't use the verbs in their infinite forms.

Example: 성규가 먹어. The literal translation is: Sunggyu (성규) is (가) eat (먹어). 

Try this one on your own:

"Attatchment '이'"

This one is a little different. The attatchment '이' is used as a filler in order to use the attatchment '가.'

Let's use the names, 'Hyosung' (효성), 'Yoseob' (요섭), and 'Ryeowook' (려욱).

Example: 효성이가 먹어. Literal translation: Hyosung (효성) [filler] [이] is (가) eat (먹어).

Example: 요섭이가 마셔. Literal translation: Yoseob (요섭) [filler] [이] is (가) drink (마셔).

Example: 려욱이가 걸어. Literal translation: Ryeowook (려욱) [filler] [이] is (가) walk (걸어).

Why do we use a filler?

If we use '가' as an attatchment for a word with a batchim without the filler, it sounds really awkward to native Koreans and it's too much of a mouthful to say.

Why not just use '이' instead of '이가' for words with batchims?

If we do that, then the whole meaning of the sentence could change. Let's take the first example sentence under the '이' attatchment section.

'효성이가 먹어.' If we say '효성이 먹어' without adding the '가' then the sentence could be taken as 'Eat Hyosung' instead of 'Hyosung is eat' (which isn't grammatically correct.).

Do you see the importance of that?