Lesson-10-사이에, 사이에서, 중에, 중에서

To say things such as “I cannot choose between this one and that one” or “she is popular among our friends” in Korean, you need to learn to use 중에서, 사이에서, or 사이에.

Start this lesson with learning about 중에서!

The Chinese character is 中, which means “center” or “middle”. -에서 is a way to mark a location; therefore, when 중 and -에서 are together, it literally means “in the middle”.

Other words which contain 중 (中) are:

중학교 = 중 (middle) + 학교 (school) = middle school
중식 = 중 (middle) + 식 (eat) = formal name for “lunch”
회의 중 = 회의 (meeting, conference) + 중 (middle) = meeting in process
공사 중 = 공사 (construction) + 중 (middle) = under construction

중에서 means “among” or “between”, but it can only be used when listing a few options to choose from. You CANNOT use 중에서 to describe a location and say something such as “the house is located between the bank and the park”. In that case, a different expression, 사이에, is needed (and is explained later in this lesson).

Expression (1) - 중에서
* To make 중에서 shorter, you can drop 서.

When choosing from a few options, put 중에서 at the end of “A and B”.

Ex)
Between A and B
= A하고 B 중에서

Between this book and that book
= 이 책하고 저 책 중에서

Among these three things
= 이 세 개 중에서

Among ten people
= 열 명 중에서

Sample Sentences

Please choose among these.
= 이 중에서 고르세요.

Please take one of these three.
= 이 세 개 중에서 하나 가져가세요.

Expression (2) - 사이에서

When saying “among”, such as in “popular among friends” or “famous among teenagers”, use the expression 사이에서, 사이 can refer to a relationship or the theoretical space between certain objects or people.

Ex)
Among friends
= 친구들 사이에서

Among his/her family members
= 가족들 사이에서

Sample Sentences

He is popular among friends.
= 친구들 사이에서 인기가 많아요.

This singer is popular among Koreans.
= 이 가수는 한국인들 사이에서 인기가 많아요.

Seokjin is popular among our listeners.
= 석진 씨는 청취자들 사이에서 인기가 많아요.

Expression (3) - 사이에

사이에 is used to refer to the physical space between two objects or people.

Sample Sentences

I am between the bank and the park.
= 은행하고 공원 사이에 있어요.

The pharmacy is between the school and the police station.
= 약국은 학교하고 경찰서 사이에 있어요.

Q: What is the difference between 에 and 에서?
A: 에 is used to mark status or location, and 에서 is for an action.