How to Say "The princess stays home because a friend came" in Korean | -아/어요 Grammar

Quick Answer: "The princess stays home because a friend came" in Korean is "공주는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요." (gongjuneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo.). It uses the -아/어요 grammar pattern (Polite Ending (-아/어요)). Level: A1.

Translate "The princess stays home because a friend came" into Korean and you get "공주는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요.". The Polite Ending (-아/어요) grammar point here is used in about 1 in 5 Korean sentences — truly essential.

Category: 감정

What does "The princess stays home because a friend came" mean in Korean?

The Korean sentence "공주는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요." translates to "The princess stays home because a friend came." in English. "공주는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요." demonstrates how Korean builds meaning layer by layer. Each particle and ending adds nuance to the base idea of "the princess stays home because a friend came".

Pronunciation guide: gongjuneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo.

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 "공주는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요.", the verb comes at the end of the sentence. Here is the word-by-word breakdown: • 공주는 (gongjuneun) • 친구가 (chinguga) • 와서 (waseo) • 집에 (jipe) • 있어요 (iteoyo)

In fairy tales, Korean sentences tend to be shorter and simpler than in novels. This makes them perfect for language practice.

Why This Korean Expression Sounds Natural

What gives this sentence its natural ring is the verb ending. Korean verb endings carry enormous information — tense, politeness, mood — all packed into one or two syllables.

Cultural Insight

한국에서 '친구'는 엄밀히 같은 나이의 사람만 지칭해요. 나이가 다르면 '형', '누나', '동생' 등 관계에 맞는 호칭을 사용합니다.

Examples

공주는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요. — gongjuneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo. — The princess stays home because a friend came.

공주는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요? — gongjuneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo? — Does the princess stays home because a friend came?

매일 공주는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요. — maeil gongjuneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo. — Every day, the princess stays home because a friend came.

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: 있어요 공주는 친구가 와서 집에 → Correct: 공주는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요. 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 princess stays home because a friend came" in Korean?

The correct Korean translation is "공주는 친구가 와서 집에 있어요.". gongjuneun chinguga waseo jipe iteoyo.

Fill in the blank: 공주는 친구가 와서 집에 ___

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