In short

A Korean sentence is [subject + particle] [object + particle] [verb] - and the verb goes last, always. Word roles are carried by the little particles glued to each noun, not by position, so the nouns can swap places while the verb cannot move. Anything the listener can already work out is simply left out.

The rule

Step 1 - The verb ends the sentence. This rule has no exceptions.

Korean is SOV: Subject - Object - Verb. English puts the verb second; Korean puts it dead last, after every noun, every adverb and every negation.

저는 밥을 먹어요. (Jeoneun babeul meogeoyo.) - I eat a meal.

• 저 (jeo, I) + 는 = subject, raised as the topic
• 밥 (bap, cooked rice, a meal) + 을 = object
• 먹어요 (meogeoyo, eat) = the verb, in final position

Everything you add goes in front of the verb, never behind it. A Korean sentence is finished the moment the verb is spoken - which is why Koreans listen to the end before reacting.

Step 2 - Particles carry the role, so nouns may move

In English, Dog bites man and Man bites dog mean opposite things, because position alone assigns the roles. In Korean the role is stamped onto the noun by its particle, so moving the noun changes the emphasis, not the meaning:

• 저는 밥을 먹어요. (Jeoneun babeul meogeoyo.) - neutral.
• 밥을 저는 먹어요. (Babeul jeoneun meogeoyo.) - same roles, but the meal is now fronted for contrast.

밥을 is the object in both, because 을 says so. This freedom is called scrambling. Two limits: the verb still cannot move, and the neutral, unmarked order is the one you should default to at A1. Fronting is a deliberate effect, not a free choice.

The particle you pick depends on the last letter of the noun - vowel or 받침. See the table below. Which of 이/가 and 은/는 to use for a subject is a separate question, owned by Marking the subject and the topic: 이/가 and 은/는.

Step 3 - Head-final: every modifier comes before what it modifies

The verb-last rule is one case of a bigger principle. Korean is head-final: the important word comes last in its group, and everything that describes it stands in front.

• Adjective before noun: 새 책 (sae chaek) - a new book; 예쁜 꽃 (yeppeun kkot) - a pretty flower
• Possessor before noun: 제 친구 (je chingu) - my friend; 한국 음식 (Hanguk eumsik) - Korean food
• Adverb before verb: 빨리 먹어요. (Ppalli meogeoyo.) - [I] eat quickly.
• Negation before verb: 안 가요. (An gayo.) - [I] am not going.

Nothing is ever attached after a noun except its particle. Even a whole clause goes in front: 제가 읽는 책 (jega ingneun chaek) - the book I am reading, literally I-read book. English hangs that clause behind the noun; Korean cannot. (The endings that build such clauses come later, in Modifier endings -는/-(으)ㄴ/-(으)ㄹ and bound nouns.)

When you add time and place, the neutral order is time -> place -> object -> verb:

저는 어제 학교에서 친구를 만났어요. (Jeoneun eoje hakgyoeseo chingureul mannasseoyo.) - Yesterday I met a friend at school.

Step 4 - Drop whatever is recoverable

Korean leaves out any subject or object the listener can reconstruct. This is not lazy or informal - it is the normal, correct pattern, and repeating the subject in every sentence is the clearest beginner tell.

• 밥 먹었어요? (Bap meogeosseoyo?) - Have you eaten? No subject at all: obviously you.
• 네, 먹었어요. (Ne, meogeosseoyo.) - Yes, I have. Subject and object both gone.
• 어디 가요? (Eodi gayo?) - Where are you going?

Notice that 밥 먹었어요? also drops the object particle 을. In relaxed speech the particle itself is often left off when the role is obvious. What can never be dropped is the verb - it is the only obligatory part of a Korean sentence, and a bare verb is a complete, grammatical utterance.

Step 5 - Three things Korean simply does not have

• No articles. 사과를 먹어요. (Sagwareul meogeoyo.) covers I eat an apple, the apple, or apples. Context decides.
• No plural agreement. Nouns are number-neutral. 학생 (haksaeng) is student or students. There is a marker -들 (학생들, haksaengdeul), but it is optional and used mainly for definite groups of people - never required the way English -s is.
• No subject-verb agreement. 먹어요 is the form for I, you, he, she, we, they. The verb never changes for person or number. It changes for tense, politeness and mood - never for who is doing it.

Step 6 - Three kinds of predicate (preview)

Whatever ends the sentence is the predicate, and it comes in three flavours. You will meet each in its own lesson:

1. Noun predicate with the copula: 저는 학생이에요. (Jeoneun haksaengieyo.) - I am a student.
2. Action verb: 저는 밥을 먹어요. (Jeoneun babeul meogeoyo.) - I eat a meal.
3. Descriptive verb (what English calls an adjective): 날씨가 좋아요. (Nalssiga joayo.) - The weather is good.

The third one is the surprise: Korean adjectives are conjugating verbs and need no to be. 좋아요 already means is good.

Forms & patterns

The sentence frame:

Particle allomorphs - chosen by the last letter of the noun:

The first three alternate by 받침 alone; (으)로 alternates too, with ㄹ counting as a vowel. Getting the pair wrong (*책를, *저은) is the single most visible A1 error in writing.

Head-final order - Korean vs English:

Examples

Common mistakes

• 저는 먹어요 밥을. (Jeoneun meogeoyo babeul.) -> 저는 밥을 먹어요. (Jeoneun babeul meogeoyo.) - English SVO order transferred straight over. The verb must be the last word, with no exceptions.
• 책를 읽어요. (Chaegreul ilgeoyo.) -> 책을 읽어요. (Chaegeul ilgeoyo.) - 책 ends in the 받침 ㄱ, so the object particle is 을, not 를. Check the last letter of the noun before every particle.
• 저는 학교에 가요 안. (Jeoneun hakgyoe gayo an.) -> 저는 학교에 안 가요. (Jeoneun hakgyoe an gayo.) - negation and adverbs go before the verb, and nothing at all may follow it.
• 책 새를 읽어요. (Chaek saereul ilgeoyo.) -> 새 책을 읽어요. (Sae chaegeul ilgeoyo.) - the modifier always precedes its noun, and the particle attaches to the noun, not to the modifier.
• 저는 학생이에요. 저는 한국어를 공부해요. 저는 서울에 살아요. -> 저는 학생이에요. 한국어를 공부해요. 서울에 살아요. (Jeoneun haksaengieyo. Hangugeoreul gongbuhaeyo. Seoure sarayo.) - once the subject is established, drop it. Repeating 저는 sounds as though you keep insisting me, not someone else.

Tips

• Build the sentence backwards. Decide the verb first, park it at the end, then hang the nouns in front of it in the order time -> place -> object. Thinking left to right in English order is what produces broken Korean.
• Position is emphasis; the particle is grammar. If you are unsure what a noun is doing in a sentence, do not count words - look at the particle glued to it. That single syllable is the whole answer.
• Nothing follows a noun but its particle. Whenever English wants to add information after a noun (the book that I bought, the man in the corner), Korean puts all of it in front. Train this early and modifier clauses at A2 will feel natural.
• A verb on its own is a complete sentence. 먹었어요. (Meogeosseoyo.) - I ate. Leaving out the obvious is correct Korean, not sloppy Korean.