미국에서 왔어요.

When to use

Use this phrase to answer the question 'Where are you from?' (어디에서 오셨어요?).

How it works

This sentence follows the pattern '[Country] + from + came'.

• 미국에서 (Migugeseo): '미국' (Miguk - America/USA) + location particle '에서' (eseo - from).
• 왔어요 (wasseoyo): The polite informal past tense of 오다 (oda - to come). The '-았/었-' is the past tense marker, and '-어요' is the polite informal ending.

Speech Level

The '-어요' ending signifies the polite informal speech level (해요체 - haeyoche), matching the politeness of the question asked.

Word Origin

'미국' (Miguk) is the Sino-Korean term for the United States. '미' (美) means 'beautiful' and '국' (國) means 'country'.

Omitted Subject/Object

The subject '저는' (jeoneun - I) is omitted, which is very common in Korean when the speaker is clearly referring to themselves.

Notes

A standard and polite response indicating your country of origin.