엄마가 기다려

The line, explained

Picture the scene: it is late, the main character is sitting on a playground swing after a terrible day, and a younger brother appears with an umbrella. He doesn't say 'come home' or 'I was worried.' He just says 엄마가 기다려. Mom's waiting. Two words, and the character stands up. This lesson uses that tiny line to teach one of the most useful pieces of Korean grammar.

엄마 means mom. It is what Korean children call their mothers, and adults keep using it their whole lives, the way many English speakers keep saying 'Mom'. The formal word for mother is 어머니, which you will hear in dramas when someone speaks to a friend's mother or a mother-in-law. 엄마 is warm, close and casual, exactly right for siblings talking about home.

The small 가 stuck to 엄마 is the subject marker. Korean puts little tags after nouns to show their job in the sentence, and 가 says 'this is who is doing it'. Because 엄마 ends in a vowel sound, it takes 가. A word ending in a consonant takes 이 instead: 동생이 (my younger sibling), 사람이 (a person). Same job, two shapes, chosen only by sound.

기다려 comes from 기다리다, to wait. Drop the 다 to get the stem 기다리, then add the casual ending 어. The 리 and 어 squeeze together into 려, giving gi-da-ryeo. With no tense marker, it means is waiting or waits right now. Notice there is no word for 'you' anywhere. Korean happily leaves out anyone obvious from context, so 'for you' is simply understood.

You will hear 이/가 constantly once you start listening: 비가 와 (it's raining), 네가 좋아 (I like you), 누가 왔어? (who came?). That last one is a small surprise, because 누구 (who) plus 가 shortens to 누가. Try making your own version of this line by swapping 엄마 for 아빠 (dad) or 친구 (friend). Since both end in a vowel, the 가 stays exactly the same.