Location Marker: ~에 vs ~에서

Question today comes from onlypenpal about the location marker, "에" vs. "에서"

질문 하나 여쭤봐도 되죠. 왜 "~에서 살고 계세요"나 "~에서 사세요"를 사용하지 않아요? 여러분들 다 " ~에 살고 계세요"나 "~에 사세요"를 사용하니까. 궁금합니다.

Answer:
@onlypenpal: I will reply in English for those whose Korean language skill is not fluent enough and wants to learn too.

"~에" is grammatically correct. "~에" is associated with verbs that do not have "movements."

Examples:
서울에 살아요. I live in Seoul
집에 있어요. I am home.

If Korean natives use "~에서" in place of "~에":

1. It's just a careless mistake.
2. This mistake is made usually by the uneducated and/or young people. So to soften up the conversation or tone of voice (such as a girl trying to sound cute or business meeting that needs to be toned down a bit), adults may make this mistake on purpose or unconsciously.

"~에서" is "from" or "at" to mean the place of occurrence. Naturally, associated verbs usually involve some kind of movement or action.

Examples:
대만에서 태어났어요. I was born in Taiwan = I am *from* Taiwan.
집에서 일해요. I work at home.
미국에서 왔어요. I am from America.

Practice
Choose either 에 or 에서. Use comment box below.

저는 미국____ 태어났습니다. 할아버지와 할머니께서는 한국 _____ 계십니다. 아버지는 페루____  영사관으로 일하십니다. 어머니는 집___ 인터넷 쇼핑몰을 하십니다. 지금 방금 누님이 학교____ 왔습니다. 식사 후 마켓____ 함께 가려고 합니다.

Note: There's a trick question/answer in this practice. :)


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