What 내 means
Before a noun, 내 means “my.” It contracts 나의: 내 모자 is “my hat,” and 내 것 means “mine” or “my thing.” In 내가, 내 combines with the subject particle 가 to mean “I” as the subject, not something possessed.
What does 내 mean when someone sends it?
A lone 내 needs its neighbors for a reliable translation. The same block can mark possession, mark the speaker as subject, or name a small creek. If only 내 arrives, ask for the full phrase.
Why does 내 look like one square?
The letters share one Hangul syllable block. 내 combines the initial consonant ㄴ with vowel ㅐ, which itself combines the vowel letters ㅏ and ㅣ.
Hangul was created in 1443 to write Korean speech; its explanatory book was published in 1446. The 1447 Seokbosangjeol, a Korean book, already uses 내 in first-person and possessive phrases. That is early attestation, not proof of first use.
By the late 18th century, ㅐ had shifted from a sound roughly like the vowel in “eye” to a single vowel. Its component letters are not a guide to saying two sounds separately today.
Possessive 내 is plain or intimate; 제 is the humble or polite choice when referring to your own things.
When the situation calls for humble self-reference, 내 can sound too plain; use 제.
Part of the collection
Who writes 내
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What it means when someone sends it to you
4 readings“My hat”: 내 is possessive.
Don't confuse it with
1
Related characters
3
Combination ideas
3Questions people ask
1Why does 내 show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
More like this
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How to type or find 내
- Search it as
- nae · 내 meaning · my in Korean · mine in Korean · 내가 · 내 것 · 내 vs 네 · Korean creek
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
내\B0B4Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.