7. “I am from…” in Korean

1. Do not use the literal expression of “I came from…”

2. Instead, say “I am [country] person.” or “I live in [country].”

• (저는) [country] 사람이에요. “(I) am [nationality/ethnicity].”
  – Subject “I” can be omitted in Korean when it is obvious in the context.
  – 사람 is a person, and if you add a country before it, it becomes your nationality or ethnicity.
  – 이에요 is the conversational form of the verb 이다 to be
  
  “저는 한국 사람이에요.” I am Korean. (I am from Korea.)
  “저는 미국 사람이에요.” I am American. (I am from the USA.)
  “저는 인도 사람이에요.” I am Indian. (I am from India.)
  “저는 독일 사람이에요.” I am German. (I am from Germany.)
  “저는 모로코 사람이에요.” I am Moroccan. (I am from Morocco.)
  
• (저는) [country/city]에 살아요. “(I) live in [country/city].”
  – [place]에 : at, on, in [place]
  – 살아요: conversational form of the verb 살다 to live
  
  “저는 한국에 살아요.” I live in Korea.
  “저는 호주에 살아요.” I live in Australia.
  “저는 이집트에 살아요.” I live in Egypt.
  “저는 터키에 살아요.” I live in Turkey.
  “저는 일본에 살아요.” I live in Japan.

Say “I am from…” ONLY When You Are in Another Country!

When you LITERALLY CAME FROM your country, and you are now in another country: -에서 왔어요.
– [place]에서 = from [place]
– 왔어요 is the past tense of the verb 오다 to come

For example, I was born and raised in Korea, and my ethnicity as well as nationality is Korean. However, I am currently in the United States. In this case, I CAN say “한국에서 왔어요(I came from Korea: I am from Korea).” because I literally came from Korea to the USA.