Choose the missing piece before choosing a question word

You know there is a Korean class, but you do not know the room or the starting time. Asking “Where?” should give you a place. Asking “When?” should give you a time. That simple distinction is the starting point for making useful questions instead of memorising a list of translations.

This beginner lesson explains how to ask questions in Korean with six familiar question words. You will turn a short statement into a question, match questions to answers, and practise a conversation about a class. The examples use polite everyday endings such as -아요, -어요 and -예요. If those endings are new, start with polite verb forms and 이에요 and 예요.

Read the Korean aloud with the listening buttons, then cover the English. Your goal is to recognise the information being requested and give an answer that supplies it. A perfectly pronounced place name still does not answer a question about the time.

Start with a question that checks one fact

In these everyday -요 forms, the words can stay in the same order. The question mark shows the written question, while intonation and context help make it a question in speech. English often adds “do” or changes the order of “is” and the subject. Do not add an extra Korean word simply to imitate that English structure.

For 오늘 수업이 있어요?, a useful positive answer is 네, 있어요. — “Yes, there is.” A negative answer is 아니요, 없어요. — “No, there is not.” These replies answer whether the class exists today; they do not tell you its starting time.

This is a first pattern, not a rule that every Korean speech style uses identical statement and question endings. A formal question such as 있습니까? uses its own ending. Stay with the -요 examples here before learning another set of endings. Also, the subject can be left out when the conversation makes it clear; you do not need to insert 당신 whenever English says “you.”

Match six question words to six kinds of answer

뭐 is a short everyday form related to 무엇. In 뭐 배워요?, it asks about the thing being learned. A possible reply is 한국어를 배워요, “I learn Korean.” In 어디에서 배워요?, the activity is already understood and the missing information is its location.

Learn each word with an expected answer, not only an English label: 뭐 → 한국어, 어디 → 학교, 언제 → 내일. The small words after a noun still matter. For example, 학교에서 identifies the place where learning happens.

These words have other uses in longer Korean sentences, including uses that do not ask a direct question. This lesson focuses on clear questions in a conversation. Likewise, 어떻게 does not replace every English use of “how.” To ask how much something costs, you need a price question such as 얼마예요? rather than adding 어떻게 to a price.

Keep the answer in view while building the question

Start from an answer you understand. If the answer is 내일 시작해요, replace 내일 with 언제. Keep 시작해요 at the end. You now have a question that asks for exactly the information you removed.

Try the same process with a place: 도서관에서 공부해요. — “I study at the library.” Remove 도서관, keep 에서, and ask 어디에서 공부해요? You may also hear the shorter 어디서 공부해요?; 어디서 is a shortened form of 어디에서.

This method is a useful starting point for word order. Korean allows other orders when the context and emphasis call for them, so do not treat the diagram as the only possible arrangement. For your first questions, keeping the known sentence and replacing one part reduces the number of decisions you must make at once.

Use 누가 for the person doing the action

When 누구 combines with the subject particle 가, the usual contracted form is 누가. In 누가 와요?, that person is the one who comes. Do not add another 가 to 누가: the subject marking is already part of the form.

누구를 has a different role. In 누구를 만나요?, the unknown person is the object of 만나요, the person being met. Compare the answers 민수가 와요 and 민수를 만나요. The change from 가 to 를 follows the person’s role in the sentence.

누구예요? asks who the person is. It is not the same sentence as “Who is coming?” Learn these three short patterns together so that “who” does not become a single Korean form you put everywhere. Review the particle lesson if identifying the subject still feels uncertain.

Distinguish a location from the place of an activity

The English word “where” does not show you which Korean particle belongs in the sentence. Look at the whole message. Is something located somewhere? Is an activity happening there? Is someone going to a destination? Those questions help you choose among the patterns above.

A reply to 교실이 어디에 있어요? might be 이 층에 있어요. — “It is on the second floor.” Here 이 층 means floor two; it is not the demonstrative 이 meaning “this.” In writing, 2층 makes the number immediately clear.

If you hear 교실에서 공부해요, you have learned where the person studies. You still might not know where that classroom is in the building. One answer can lead to another useful question instead of ending the conversation.

Ask one question, use the answer, then continue

This is an invented class conversation. The final question checks two details already given: the time and the floor. You do not need to ask every question word in the chart. Ask the questions that solve your information gap, then confirm the details you will act on.

For a speaking exercise, change the time to three in the afternoon and the room to the first floor. Play the visitor, and have a partner answer from the changed information. Your last line must change too; otherwise you are repeating a script rather than using the reply.

왜 and 어떻게 become useful when the conversation turns to learning. 왜 배워요? asks for a reason, such as wanting to talk with family. 어떻게 연습해요? asks for a method, such as listening and repeating. A bare 왜요? can sound curious, surprised or challenging depending on context and tone. With someone new, ask a clear full question and avoid demanding an explanation for a personal choice.

Choose the question that would get the answer

A small listening check

References and your next five questions

• Basic Korean Dictionary: 누가 — The contracted form used with subject marking.
• Basic Korean Dictionary: 뭐 — The pronoun used to ask about an unknown thing or fact.
• How to Study Korean: question words, lesson 21 — Further examples with who, where, when and why.
• How to Study Korean: question words, lesson 22 — Additional study of what and how; the page also covers forms beyond this beginner lesson.

Reviewed September 3, 2026. Found a mistake? Send a correction.

Write five answers about a fictional class, then write the question for each one. Include a person, a place, a time, an activity and a reason. Check that every answer actually supplies what its question asks for. For help when the reply is too fast, continue with asking someone to repeat or slow down.