Korean grammar - What? 뭐

What? 뭐

In Korean you can ask the question 'what?' using the pronoun 뭐.

-- The formal form 무엇 is used in formal language - this will be covered in a latter topic.

The topic/subject/object markers can be added to 뭐 as required.

-- When attaching the object marker it is common (and more natural sounding) to contract as follows: 뭐 + 를 ⇒ 뭘

Note that in simple phrases (with just a subject and verb for example) markers are often not necessary for clarity of meaning and are excluded.

뭐 as a subject (with the subject marker가) can also be used to mean 'which one'.

Examples:
	뭘 마셔요? What do (you) drink?
	뭘 먹었어요? What did you eat?
	뭐 해요? What are (you) doing? The object marker is unnecessary here and is excluded.
	뭐가 문제에요? What is the problem?
	이 책이 뭐예요? What is this book? 뭐예요? is a standard way to ask what something is. Note that 뭐 and 예요 are combined into one word (without a space).
	철수가 뭐를 던졌어요? What did Cheolsu throw? Here 뭐를 is not contracted even though 뭘 shoulds more natural.
	학교에서 무엇을 읽었어요? What did (you) read at school?
	친구가 뭘 줬어요? What did (your) friend give (you)?
	뭐가 좋아요? Which one is good? 뭐가 (with the subject marker) means 'which one'
	뭐가 장난감이에요? Which one is a toy? 뭐가 (with the subject marker) means 'which one'
	거기 뭐가 있어요? What is there?
	그 가방에 뭐가 있어요? What is there in that bag?