How to Say "The girl went to the river yesterday" in Korean | -아/어요 Grammar

Quick Answer: "The girl went to the river yesterday" in Korean is "소녀가 어제 강에 갔어요." (sonyeoga eoje gange gateoyo.). It uses the -아/어요 grammar pattern (Polite Ending (-아/어요)). Level: A1.

The Korean sentence "소녀가 어제 강에 갔어요." is a beautiful way to say "The girl went to the river yesterday". It uses Polite Ending (-아/어요) — a must-know pattern at the A1 level.

Category: 모험

What does "The girl went to the river yesterday" mean in Korean?

The Korean sentence "소녀가 어제 강에 갔어요." translates to "The girl went to the river yesterday." in English. The sentence "소녀가 어제 강에 갔어요." is at the sweet spot for language learners: simple enough to parse, rich enough to be useful. It means "the girl went to the river yesterday" and uses vocabulary you will encounter again and again.

Pronunciation guide: sonyeoga eoje gange gateoyo.

Grammar Point: Polite Ending (-아/어요)

The -아/어요 ending is the standard polite speech level in Korean. Use -아요 after bright vowels (ㅏ, ㅗ), -어요 after dark vowels, and 해요 for 하다 verbs.

가다 → 가요, 먹다 → 먹어요, 하다 → 해요. This is the most common speech level in daily Korean.

Korean Sentence Structure Breakdown

Korean follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order, which is different from English (SVO). In "소녀가 어제 강에 갔어요.", the verb comes at the end of the sentence. Here is the word-by-word breakdown: • 소녀가 (sonyeoga) • 어제 (eoje) • 강에 (gange) • 갔어요 (gateoyo)

Korean has no articles (a, an, the). Instead, context and particles tell you whether something is specific or general.

Why This Korean Expression Sounds Natural

The expression sounds genuinely Korean because it uses topic and subject markers correctly. These small particles (은/는, 이/가) are invisible in English but essential for natural Korean.

Cultural Insight

한국어에는 '새벽', '이른 아침', '한낮', '해질녘', '밤' 등 하루의 시간을 세분화하는 아름다운 표현들이 있어요.

Examples

소녀가 어제 강에 갔어요. — sonyeoga eoje gange gateoyo. — The girl went to the river yesterday.

소녀가 어제 강에 갔어요? — sonyeoga eoje gange gateoyo? — Does the girl went to the river yesterday?

주말에 소녀가 어제 강에 갔어요. — jumale sonyeoga eoje gange gateoyo. — On weekends, the girl went to the river yesterday.

Common Mistakes

Incorrect: 먹아요 → Correct: 먹어요. The stem 먹- ends in a dark vowel (ㅓ), so it takes -어요 not -아요. Match the vowel harmony.

Incorrect: 갔어요 소녀가 어제 강에 → Correct: 소녀가 어제 강에 갔어요. Korean uses Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order. The verb must come at the end of the sentence, unlike English where it comes after the subject.

Quiz

How do you say "The girl went to the river yesterday" in Korean?

The correct Korean translation is "소녀가 어제 강에 갔어요.". sonyeoga eoje gange gateoyo.

Fill in the blank: 소녀가 어제 강에 ___

The correct ending is "갔어요". The polite -요 form is essential for everyday Korean conversation.