Grammar
각각
Meaning
Beginnergakgak
An adverb saying that what follows holds separately for every member of a set just named, rather than for the set taken together. 두 사람이 각각 상을 받았습니다 is two prizes, one per person; the same sentence without 각각 could be one prize shared between them. In reporting it also carries the sense of respectively, pairing a list of items with a list of figures in the order they were given — and that pairing is often where the information actually sits.
Form
각각 is an adverb and never changes shape — no particle, no ending, nothing that agrees with what it distributes over. It normally stands just before the predicate, or just before the figures being distributed (각각 2위, 각각 3000원). It can also stand alone like a noun meaning each of them and take particles (각각의 사정, 각각을 검토했다). The set it distributes over is whatever was named in front of it, usually a phrase joined with 와/과 or a plain list, and Korean does not repeat that set — the reader has to carry it forward.
Examples
두 사람이 각각 상을 받았습니다.
The two of them each received a prize.
Common mistakes & nuance
The reading trap is the respectively one. 오리콘과 빌보드 재팬에서 각각 2위 means second on each chart, not second once the two are put together, and letting 각각 fall out in translation quietly changes how big the result is. When two lists are paired they pair in order, first with first — the sentence gives no other clue. Keep it apart from 씩, which attaches to the amount and says how much goes per unit (한 사람에 3000원씩); the two often appear together, 각각 naming the members and 씩 the share (각각 3000원씩). And 각각 says the members are counted separately, not that their figures match: 각각 2위 and 각각 2위와 5위 are both possible continuations.
Similar grammar
- 마다
마다 attaches to a noun and means every one without exception, taking the noun as a type (날마다, 사람마다). 각각 is a free adverb pointing back at a set that was actually listed. 사람마다 다르다 says people differ in general; 두 사람이 각각 받았다 says these two, one each. Where 마다 generalises, 각각 itemises.
- N별로
별로 announces that a total is about to be broken apart along a category axis (지역별로, 연령별로), and a breakdown normally follows. 각각 does not set up an axis; it distributes over items that have already been named, and the figures usually come right after it. 별로 prepares the split, 각각 performs the pairing.