Korean honorifics
The Korean language reflects the important observance of a speaker or writer's relationships with both the subject of the sentence and the audience. Korean grammar uses honorifics to reflect the speaker's relationship to the subject of the sentence and speech levels to reflect the speaker's relationship to the audience. Korean honorifics closely resemble Japanese honorifics.
Honorifics
When talking about someone superior in status, a speaker or writer must indicate the subject's superiority by using special nouns or verb endings. Generally, someone is superior in status if he or she is an older relative, a stranger of roughly equal or greater age, an employer, a teacher, a customer, or the like. Someone is equal or inferior in status if he or she is a younger stranger, a student, an employee or the like. The use of wrong speech levels or diction is likely to be considered insulting, depending on the degree of difference between the used form and the expected form.
One way of using honorifics is to use special "honorific" nouns in place of regular ones. A common example is using 진지 (jinji) instead of 밥 (bap) for "food". Often, honorific nouns are used to refer to relatives. The honorific suffix -님 (-nim) is affixed to many kinship terms to make them honorific. Thus, someone may address his own grandmother as 할머니 (halmeoni) but refer to someone else's grandmother as 할머님 (halmeonim).
| Base noun | Honorific | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 할머니 (halmeoni) | 할머님 (halmeonim) | grandmother |
| 형 (hyeong) | 형님 (hyeongnim) | a male's older brother |
| 누나 (nuna) | 누님 (nunim) | a male's older sister |
| 오라버니 (orabeoni) | 오라버님 (orabeonim) | a female's older brother |
All verbs and adjectives can be converted into an honorific form by adding the infix -시- (-si-) or -으시- (-eusi-) after the stem and before the ending. Thus, 가다 (gada, "to go") becomes 가시다 (gasida). A few verbs have special honorific equivalents:
| Base verb/adjective | Regular honorific | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 가다 (gada) | 가시다 (gasida) | "to go" |
| 받다 (batda) | 받으시다 (bad-eusida) | "to receive" |
| 작다 (jakda) | 작으시다 (jag-eusida) | "(to be) small" |
| Base verb/adjective | Special honorific | English translation |
| 있다 (itda) | 계시다 (gyesida) | "to exist" |
| 마시다 (masida) | 드시다 (deusida) | "to drink" |
| 먹다 (meokda) | 잡수시다 (japsusida) | "to eat" |
| 자다 (jada) | 주무시다 (jumusida) | "to sleep" |
A few verbs have special humble forms, used when the speaker is referring to him/herself in polite situations. These include 드리다 (deurida) and 올리다 (ollida) for 주다 (juda, "give"). 드리다 (deurida) is substituted for 주다 (juda) when the latter is used as an auxiliary verb, while 올리다 (ollida, literally "raise up") is used for 주다 (juda) in the sense of "offer".
Pronouns in Korean have their own set of polite equivalents, e.g. 저 (jeo) is the humble form of 나 (na, "I") and 저희 (jeohui) is the humble form of 우리 (uri, "we"). However, Koreans usually avoid using the second person singular pronoun, especially when using honorific forms, and often avoid the third person pronouns as well. So, although honorific form of 너 (neo, singular "you") is 당신 (dangsin, literally, "friend" or "dear"), that term is only used as a form of address in a few specific social contexts, such as between two married couples or in an ironic sense between strangers. Other words are usually substituted where possible, e.g. the person's name, a kinship term, a professional title, the plural 여러분 yeoreobun, or no word at all, relying on context to supply meaning instead.
Speech levels
There are no fewer than seven verb paradigms or speech levels in Korean, and each level has its own unique set of verb endings which are used to indicate the level of formality of a situation. Unlike "honorifics"—which are used to show respect towards a subject—speech levels are used to show respect towards a speaker's or writer's audience. The names of the seven levels are derived from the non-honorific imperative form of the verb 하다 (hada, "to do") in each level, plus the suffix 체 (che, Hanja: 體), which means "style".
The first five levels listed below use final verb endings and are generally grouped together as gyeoksikche (격식체), while the last two levels (해요체 haeyoche and 해체 haeche) use non-final endings and are called 비격식체 (bigyeoksikche) in Korean. (The haeyoche is formed by simply adding the non-final ending -요 (-yo) to the haeche form of the verb.)
Taken together, honorifics and speech levels form a cartesian product of 14 basic verb stems. Here is a table giving the seven levels, the present indicative form of the verb 하다 (hada, "do" in English) in each level in both its honorific and non-honorific forms, and the situations in which each level is used.
These days, some of these speech levels are disappearing and people do not use them much in everyday life. Hasoseoche, which is only used in movies or dramas describing old times, is barely used by Koreans, and Hageche exists almost only in novels. But interestingly, Haoche is becoming more and more popular among people in their teens and 20's, and this phenomenon is considered to be one of the influences by internet users. Usually Haoche is used in only movies and dramas (similar with Hasoseoche) but it is now popular (in some internet websites, e.g. dcinside.com) among internet users but not in everyday life. Haoche is usually considered as a male-tongue, but interestingly today's internet-based Haoche is very popular in Ewhaian.com which is for students of Ewha Womans University.
| Speech Level | Sentence Endings | Non-Honorific Present Indicative of "hada" | Honorific Present Indicative of "hada" | Level of Formality | When Used |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hasoseoche (하소서체) |
hanaida (하나이다) |
hasinaida (하시나이다) |
Extremely formal and polite | Traditionally used when addressing a king, queen, or high official; now used only in historical dramas and the Bible | |
| Hapsyoche (합쇼체) |
hamnida (합니다) |
hasimnida (하십니다) |
Formal and polite | Used commonly between strangers, among male co-workers, by TV announcers, and to customers. | |
| Haoche (하오체) |
hao (하오) |
hasyo (하쇼), hasio (하시오) |
Formal, of neutral politeness | Spoken form only used nowadays among some older people. Young people sometimes use it as an Internet dialect after it was popularized by historical dramas. | |
| Hageche (하게체) |
hane (하네) |
hasine (하시네) |
Formal, of neutral politeness | Generally only used by some older people when addressing younger people, friends, or relatives. | |
| Haerache (해라체) |
handa (한다) |
hasinda (하신다) |
Formal, of neutral politeness or impolite | Used to close friends, relatives of similar age, or younger people; also used almost universally in books, newspapers, and magazines; also used in reported speech ("She said that..."). | |
| Haeyoche (해요체) |
haeyo (해요) |
haseyo (하세요) (common), hasyeoyo (하셔요) (rare) |
Informal and polite | Used mainly between strangers, especially those older or of equal age. Traditionally used more by women than men, though in Seoul many men prefer this form to the Hapshoche (see above). | |
| Haeche (해체) |
Statement: -(어/아). -(이)야. Question: -(어/아)? -니?/-냐?/-느냐? Proposal: -자. Command: -(어/아). -(어/아)라. -너라/-거라. Exclamation: -구나! -다! |
hae (해) (in speech), hayeo (하여) (in writing) |
hasyeo(하셔) |
Informal, of neutral politeness or impolite | Used most often between close friends and relatives, and when addressing younger people. It is never used between strangers unless the speaker wants to pick a fight or the listener is a child. |
Sentence Finals used by both gender
Informal
- Ya/Ah (야/아): Can be used following someone's names, gives the mood of "Hey"/"Yo". E.g., Christy-Ya! It is also used for emphasis "내가 말했잖아!!!" ("Didn't I tell you!") 야 is used when the previous word ended in a vowel. 아 is used when the previous word ended in a consanant. This is mostly used for informal situation.
- Uh (어): Without adding 요 after 어, it is informal among kids/teens or childish and possibly rude although it will always be rude if kids use it to their parents and elderly. It is the most commonly seen informal way of talking. Also used for informal command form. 찢어 Jijuh (tear it). You may add 라 (Ra) after it to make it sound with more authority. Adults will rarely use "Uh" unless they're talking to friends, relatives, spouses and the likes.
- TuhRa (더라): Gives the mood of "I've heard" "Was like that"; used to inform others of something they may not have known; It can be informal or formal depending on the context. Women of older age tend to prefer using this.
- De (데): It gives a mood of "you know" "so I've heard" "I thought". E.g., ("John 은 학교로 갔다던데") (John walked to school, I heard). This is always informal.
- Nya (냐): Used among women of older age or young males mostly. When males use this, it sounds like informal conversation and is used quite often among friends. It is the impolite form of asking question i.e Kka(까); has the tone "Oh, is that so?" Hence, it is most often used when asking a mini-question or when making sure of things.
- Boah (봐): It has a feeling of "see? what did I tell you!" (그것봐 내가 뭐랬냐). This is informal and can sound a bit impolite at times.
- Go (고): Used for emphasis but is far less formal than 요. It is often followed by 요. This is informal.
- Ra (라): Used for command form, most commonly used by adults to younger people, or royal people to inferior people in social rank. (공부해라!) Gongbu He Ra (Study!)
- Ja (자): It has the mood of "let's do it". This is used mostly in informal situation. 마시자! (Let's drink!)
- Ji (지): It will give different mood depending on the context but it can either give the mood of "huh" "신기하지?" (Cool, huh?) or it can give you a feeling of "....yea/of course" (먹었지...) "I did eat of course... "
Formal
- Jyo (죠): A polite way to ask a question (하셨죠?) (Did it, right?). It's more feminine and is used by girls/women to sound cute. It's used when presenting your situation or story. Hence, narrators or TV show hosts tend to use this ending quite often. This is much more formal than informal although can be considered informal in some situation as well.
- Yo (요): Used extremely commonly in formal surroundings but can also be used for emphasis of the sentence. Most of the endings can be followed by this to sound polite. It's also used to ask questions.
- Da (다): The most versatile and by far the most common way sentences end. It can be used in almost any situation. Most of the time sentences end with 다 will sound polite.
Preferred by male
- Se (세): Distinctively male, used among adults; has the mood of "let's do it", was used in the back then more commonly but now is a rare usage.
- Goon (군): Distinctively male, used only among adults, kids wanting to act tough might use this. Young male names are also followed by 군, commonly in writing, just like in Japanese, young male names are followed by "-kun".
- Oh (오): Adult males uses this in formal situation. Males also use this to wives when he's being extremely respectful in the way he talks. However, this usage is not common nowadays and is only commonly seen in drama featuring scenes hundreds of years ago or when politicians/royal people/people of high status talking.
- Soh (소): Same as "Oh" but this makes the person sound more tough. Royal people and few adults will occasionally use this but it's not a common usage.
Preferred by Female
- Ni (니): Distinctively has more feminine tone. Gives mood of "oh my goodness" "wow". E.g., (그럴수가있다니!) ("How could it be like that, oh my goodness!") It's also used to ask question but guys rarely use this ending to ask questions.
- Ne (네): Can be used both by male and female, although more common among female. Used when something impresses the speaker and can also give the mood of "You know".
- Na (나): Distinctively more female tone as men/guys will tend to use 가(ga) instead (Girls/Women can use (ga) also. This has the mood of "I wonder" "그랬더나?" "Was that so, I wonder?"
- Nika (니까): Used at the end of the question to ask in extremely polite manner; it is also used to give the mood of "You don't believe me?" "I'm telling you, believe me!" E.g., (이쁘다니까!!) (It's pretty, I'm telling you!)
- Le/Re (래): This is used when suggesting that you wish to do something. No re boo rul le "노래부를래"(I wish to sing) or you can rise your voice at the end to make it a question. No re boo rul le? "노래부를래?" (Shall we sing?/Want to sing?) Girls use this more often than guys and does give more feminine tone. Adults don't use it as often because this is highly informal.