어느 나라에서 왔어요? 국적 말하기 연습

What does “-에서 왔어요” mean in Korean?

To say where you’re from in Korean, attach the particle 에서 (“from”) to a place and add 왔어요, the past tense of 오다 (“to come”): 일본에서 왔어요 is literally “I came from Japan.” It’s distinct from 일본 사람이에요 (“I’m Japanese”), which names your nationality. The 에서 왔어요 frame is the everyday answer to 어디에서 왔어요? — “where are you from?”

Swap the place freely: 대만에서 왔어요 (“I came from Taiwan”), 독일에서 왔어요 (“I came from Germany”). The question itself uses the same particle — 어느 나라에서 왔어요? (“which country are you from?”) or shorter 어디에서 왔어요?. Note the contrast Koreans actually make: 사람이에요 (country + 사람, “person”) states nationality unambiguously, while 에서 왔어요 literally describes coming from a place, so it can occasionally read as “where did you travel in from?” — but for introductions both work and you’ll hear 에서 왔어요 constantly.