마다 Every Particle: Meaning, Rules and Examples

The 마다 every particle is the Korean ending that attaches to a noun to mean "every" or "each": it covers all members of a group one by one. Say 날마다 운동해요 for "I exercise every day." After this lesson you can use 마다 with times, people and intervals, and tell it apart from 매, 씩 and 모두.

What you'll learn

• Attach 마다 to a time word, a person word or a place word to mean "every".
• Say "every N minutes" or "every N hours" with a number plus 마다.
• Choose among 마다, 매, 씩 and 모두 by looking at what each one counts.
• Diagnose the error in 일요일마다에 쉬어요 and fix it.

Before you start: you can attach simple particles to nouns and know the time particle 에, covered in the lesson on the time particle 에. Estimated time: 15 minutes.

What Does the 마다 Every Particle Mean?

The 마다 every particle means "every" or "each". It takes a group of things and says that the sentence is true for each member, one after another. A particle (조사, josa) is a short ending glued to a word to show its job in the sentence, a little like a label on a box. English puts "every" or "each" before the noun. Korean puts 마다 after it.

The difference between "all" and "every" matters here. "All people are different" treats people as a block. "Every person is different" walks through the group and checks each member. 마다 belongs to the second kind. 사람마다 달라요 means that if you pick any person, that person differs from the others. Because of this, 마다 fits habits (each day, each week) and general facts (each person, each country) equally well.

A First Example

The two sentences below put 마다 on a time word and a person word. Read the Korean first, then the romanization, then the meaning.

• 날마다 운동해요. (nalmada undonghaeyo) [날마다 운동해요] = "I exercise every day." Word by word: 날 (day) + 마다 (every) + 운동해요 (exercise).

• 사람마다 달라요. (sarammada dallayo) [사람마다 달라요] = "Every person is different." Word by word: 사람 (person) + 마다 (every) + 달라요 (are different).

Notice two things. First, the Korean sentences have no word for "I", because Korean leaves out a subject that is clear from the context. Second, 날 ends in the consonant ㄹ, and 사람 ends in ㅁ, yet both take the same 마다, because the particle has only one form. With the meaning in place, the next section shows how to build the phrase.

How Does the 마다 Every Particle Work?

The 마다 every particle has one form, and it follows a noun. It does not change after a vowel or a consonant, and it does not take 에 after it. The noun can be a time, a person, a place or a thing.

1. Pick the noun that names the group: 날, 주말, 아침, 사람, 나라.
2. Attach 마다 directly to it, with no space: 날마다.
3. Add a verb or an adjective that is true for each member.
4. Put the verb last.

For intervals, put a number and a unit before 마다. The pattern "number + unit + 마다" means "every N units". 십 분마다 버스가 와요 (sip bunmada beoseuga wayo) [십뿐마다 버스가 와요] means "A bus comes every ten minutes." 두 시간마다 약을 먹어요 means "I take the medicine every two hours." The unit can be minutes (분), hours (시간), days (일), weeks (주) or years (년).

Pattern Table

The table lists common nouns with 마다. Brackets show how the phrase sounds where it differs from the spelling.

The table shows that the particle is the same in every row. The doubled noun in 집집마다 (every single house) adds emphasis: it stresses that no house is left out. The form rule is complete, so the next section builds one full sentence from scratch.

Worked Example, Step by Step

This worked example builds 날마다 운동해요 ("I exercise every day") from its parts. Each step names one decision, so you can repeat the process with any group.

1. Choose the group. You want to say that something happens each day, so the group is 날 (day).
2. Check that the group is a noun. 날 is a noun, so it can take 마다.
3. Attach 마다. Write 날 and add 마다 directly: 날마다. No space and no 에.
4. Decide what is true for each member. You do exercise, which is 운동하다. The polite present is 운동해요.
5. Put the verb last. Korean ends with the predicate: 날마다 운동해요.
6. Leave out what is obvious. "I" is clear from the context, so no subject is needed.
7. Narrow the group if needed. To say "every morning" instead of "every day", choose a smaller time noun as the group: 아침마다 운동해요.
8. Say it aloud. The phrase is [날마다 운동해요], with no sound change.

You'll know it worked when you can swap the parts and still choose correctly. Replace 날 with 주말 and the verb with 등산해요, and you get 주말마다 등산해요 (jumalmada deungsanhaeyo), "I hike every weekend." Replace the group with 십 분 and the verb with 와요 for a bus, and you get the interval pattern from the previous section.

Once you can build the pattern, the next question is how 마다 differs from the words that also mean "every" or "each".

How Is 마다 Different from Similar Forms?

The 마다 particle goes after a noun and treats each member in turn, while 매 goes before a noun with a similar meaning, 씩 counts a share, and 모두 treats the group as one. Four forms compete, and the table puts them side by side.

The test is what each word counts. Ask whether you are walking through a group one by one (마다 or 매), sharing amounts equally (씩) or treating the group as a block (모두). The sentence 사람마다 하나씩 줘요 (sarammada hanassik jwoyo) means "I give one to each person", and it uses both: 마다 for the people, 씩 for the amount each person gets. The lesson on the 씩 each particle covers the second half.

The determiner 매 gives the same meaning before a noun. In common words such as 매일 (every day), 매주 (every week), 매달 (every month) and 매년 (every year) it is written together with the noun as one word, and it is slightly more compact than 마다. In many time phrases the two are interchangeable, so 일요일마다 쉬어요 and 매주 일요일에 쉬어요 describe the same habit. Notice that the second sentence keeps 에, because 매주 일요일 is an ordinary time phrase with no 마다.

The contrast with 모두 is a contrast of viewpoint. 모두 모였어요 (modu moyeosseoyo) [모두 모여써요] means "Everyone gathered", which describes one event with everyone together. 사람마다 모였어요 would be strange, because 마다 describes each person separately. For plural marking, see the lesson on the 들 plural marker. Two other particles that limit or add to a noun are covered in the lessons on the only particle 만 and the also particle 도.

The comparison is clear, so the next section collects the limits of the rule.

When Do You Use 마다, and When Not?

Use 마다 whenever the sentence is true for each member of a group in turn. Beyond that core job, a few cases need care.

Can 마다 Follow a Verb?

No. 마다 attaches to nouns, to numbers with units and to a few time words. For "every time you do something", Korean uses a verb pattern such as -(으)ㄹ 때마다 (every time that). The lesson in this set covers only the noun use.

Doubling with 매 and 마다

Speakers sometimes say 매일마다 or 매주마다, which combines the determiner 매 and the particle 마다. The result says "every" twice and is regarded as redundant in careful writing, although it is common in speech. Choose one: 매일 or 날마다. The same applies to 매 plus 마다 in 매 시간마다.

Cases Where 마다 Does Not Fit

• After 에. Do not add 에 to a word that already has 마다: 일요일마다 쉬어요, not 일요일마다에 쉬어요.

• All together. Do not use 마다 for a group acting as one. Use 모두 or 다.
• A single occasion. Do not use 마다 for one event. Use 에 for one point in time: 일요일에 쉬어요 means "I rest on Sunday".

One honest limit: 마다 can sometimes be followed by other particles in real texts, and those combinations are advanced uses. The safe beginner habit is to keep 마다 at the end of the group phrase and add 다 (all) in the main clause for emphasis: 사람마다 다 달라요 means "Every single person is different." With the uses sorted, the next section lists the mistakes that come from mixing them up.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make?

Learners make four common mistakes with 마다. Each one follows the pattern "learners often assume X; actually Y, because Z".

1. Adding 에 after 마다. Learners often assume every time word needs 에, so they write 일요일마다에. Actually 마다 already covers "on every Sunday", so the time particle is redundant. Say 일요일마다 쉬어요.
2. Using 마다 for "all together". Learners write 학생마다 모였어요 for "All the students gathered". Actually 마다 looks at each student separately. Use 학생들이 모두 모였어요.
3. Putting 마다 on a verb. Learners write 운동하마다 for "every time I exercise". Actually 마다 attaches to nouns. Use a verb pattern such as 운동할 때마다.
4. Doubling the idea with 매 and 마다. Learners write 매일마다 because both forms are familiar. Actually either one is enough. Say 매일 or 날마다.

A practical rule of thumb: if you can ask "every what?", 마다 goes right after the noun that answers it. The practice below checks both halves of that rule.

Practice and Answers

These four exercises check the core outcome: using 마다 in a new sentence and explaining how it differs from 모두. Try each one before reading the answers.

Exercise 1: Choose the form. Fill in the blank with 마다 or 들: 사람__ 생각이 달라요. (Every person thinks differently.)

Exercise 2: Fix the error. A learner writes 일요일마다에 쉬어요 for "I rest every Sunday". Correct it.

Exercise 3: Translate. "Every country is different." (country = 나라, are different = 달라요)

Exercise 4: Write your own. Write one sentence that says what you do every morning (morning = 아침, drink = 마셔요, coffee = 커피).

Answer Key

• Exercise 1: 사람마다 생각이 달라요. (sarammada saenggagi dallayo) The sentence is true for each person in turn, so 마다 fits. 들 only makes the noun plural.
• Exercise 2: 일요일마다 쉬어요. (iryoilmada swieoyo) Remove 에, because 마다 already says "on every Sunday".
• Exercise 3: 나라마다 달라요. (naramada dallayo) The statement is true for each country in turn, so 나라 takes 마다.
• Exercise 4: One model answer: 아침마다 커피를 마셔요. (achimmada keopireul masyeoyo) = "I drink coffee every morning." The group 아침 takes 마다, and 커피 takes the object particle 를.

If you missed Exercise 1 or 2, reread the comparison table and the list of cases where 마다 does not fit. The next section shows where to go from here.

Next Lessons and Where to Go from Here

The next lesson in this set is the 까지 until particle, which marks the end point of a span of time or place. The lesson before it is 처럼 vs 같이 vs 만큼. To review the one-point use of time words, return to the time particle 에.

What this lesson does not cover. This lesson does not cover the verb pattern -(으)ㄹ 때마다, the particles that combine with 마다 in formal writing, or the full plural system. Every lesson in this particle set is listed on korean comparison particles.

In short, the 마다 every particle covers each member of a group in turn: attach it to a time, person or place noun with no space and no 에, use a number and unit for intervals, and choose 모두 when the group acts as one.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 마다 mean? 마다 means "every" or "each". It attaches to a noun and covers all members of that group one by one: 날마다 (every day), 주말마다 (every weekend), 사람마다 (every person). With a number plus a unit, it means "every N units": 십 분마다 (every ten minutes). The sentence then describes each member in turn.

How do I form 마다? Attach 마다 straight to a noun with no space and no change: 날마다, 해마다, 아침마다, 사람마다. It has one form, so the final sound of the noun does not matter. Do not add 에 after it; 일요일마다 쉬어요 is correct and 일요일마다에 쉬어요 is not. Only the pronunciation shifts, as in 월요일마다 [워료일마다].

What is the most common mistake with 마다? Learners add 에 to a day word that already has 마다, as in 일요일마다에. The 마다 already says "on every Sunday", so the time particle is redundant. A second mistake is using 마다 for "all together", where 모두 fits: 모두 모였어요 means everyone gathered, and 사람마다 달라요 means each person differs.

How is 마다 different from similar forms? 마다 follows a noun and means each member in turn. 매 is a determiner placed before a noun with the same sense: 매일, 매주, 매년. 씩 attaches to an amount and means "each" in a share or a count (하나씩). 모두 means all together and treats the group as one. The sentence 사람마다 하나씩 means "one for each person".

Do I use 마다 in speech, writing or both? Both. 마다 appears in casual chat, polite speech and formal writing, and it does not change with politeness. The determiner 매 is slightly more written and compact (매주), while 마다 is common in speech (주말마다). Both are correct in every register, and speakers often use whichever is easier to say.