Korean Question Words: 누구, 뭐, 어디, 언제, 왜, 어떻게, 얼마나

Korean question words are arguably simpler than English. They go at the beginning of the sentence (usually), and the rest of the sentence structure stays the same.

The core seven

누구 : who

누구예요? Who is it? 누구한테 전화했어요? Who did you call? (한테 = to [person]) 이게 누구 거예요? Whose is this? (누구 거 = whose thing) 누가 왔어요? Who came? (누가 = 누구 + 가, subject form)

Note: 누구가 → 누가 (contraction used as subject)

뭐 / 무엇: what

뭐예요? What is it? 뭐 먹을래요? What do you want to eat? 무슨 일이에요? What's going on? (무슨 = what kind of) 뭐가 맛있어요? What's delicious?

뭐 is casual spoken form. 무엇 is more formal/written. 무슨 is used before a noun: 무슨 색? (what color?), 무슨 영화? (what movie?)

어디 : where

어디예요? Where is it? 어디 가요? Where are you going? 어디서 왔어요? Where are you from? (어디서 = from where) 어디에 살아요? Where do you live?

어디가 : where (as subject): 어디가 아파요? = Where does it hurt?

언제 : when

언제 왔어요? When did you come? 언제 출발해요? When do you leave? 언제부터 한국어 공부했어요? Since when have you studied Korean? (부터 = from/since) 언제까지 해야 해요? By when do you have to do it? (까지 = until/by)

왜 : why

왜요? Why? (simple question, polite) 왜 그래요? Why are you like that? / What's wrong? 왜 안 와요? Why aren't you coming? 왜 이걸 했어요? Why did you do this?

왜 can sound accusatory depending on tone. In gentler contexts use 왜 + 요 or soften with 혹시 왜 (perhaps why).

어떻게 : how

어떻게 알았어요? How did you know? 어떻게 해요? How do you do it? 어떻게 생각해요? What do you think? (lit. How do you think?) 어떻게 됐어요? What happened? / How did it go?

어떻다 (to be how) → 어때요? = How is it? / What's it like? 어떤 (what kind of) → 어떤 사람이에요? = What kind of person is it?

얼마나 / 얼마: how much

얼마예요? How much does it cost? 얼마나 걸려요? How long does it take? 얼마나 자주 해요? How often do you do it? 얼마나 됐어요? How long has it been?

얼마 = how much (cost) 얼마나 = how much/many/long (degree, quantity, duration)

몇 : how many

몇 명이에요? How many people? 몇 살이에요? How old are you? 몇 시예요? What time is it? 몇 층이에요? Which floor is it?

몇 always precedes a counter noun.

Word order: question words in Korean

Unlike English, Korean question words don't always go first. They go where the word they replace would naturally appear:

어디 가요? = Where are you going? (어디 replaces the destination) 밥을 왜 안 먹어요? = Why aren't you eating? (왜 modifies the verb phrase)

The word order stays natural. You just replace the unknown part with the question word.

Question words unlock conversations. Once you can ask 뭐, 어디, 왜, you can navigate almost any situation by asking questions and parsing the answers. Build your vocabulary for the answers with a structured Korean course: the response vocabulary is just as important as knowing how to ask.