The intimate politeness level (반말 banmal) is widely used in everyday Korean, but mostly between close friends who are in the same age group or by an older person talking to a younger person. Younger people also sometimes use the intimate politeness level when talking to older people, typically family members or people who have agreed to be on closer terms with each other. The intimate politeness level is a conjugation used at the end of verbs to convey the amount of politeness the speaker holds towards the listener.
We use this ending with verbs that have a either the vowel ㅗ (o), orㅏ (a) in the verb stem's final syllable.
CONSTRUCTION | KOREAN (ROMANIZATION) | "ENGLISH" |
---|---|---|
보(다) + -아 | 봐 (bwa) | "I see. I watch." |
사(다) + -아 ▶ 사 + 아 | 사 (sa) | "I buy." |
잡(다) + -아 | 잡아 (jaba) | "I catch. I grab." |
We use this ending with verbs that have any vowel other than the vowels ㅗ (o), orㅏ (a) in the verb stem's final syllable.
CONSTRUCTION | KOREAN (ROMANIZATION) | "ENGLISH" |
---|---|---|
먹(다) + -어 | 먹어 (meogeo) | "I eat." |
싫(다) + -어 | 싫어 (sireo) | "I hate." |
We use this ending with 하다 (hada) verbs.
CONSTRUCTION | KOREAN (ROMANIZATION) | "ENGLISH" |
---|---|---|
일하(다) + -여 | 일해 (ilhae) | "I work." |
공부하(다) + -여 | 공부해 (gongbuhae) | "I study." |
This makes a standard verb (descriptive or action) 존댓말, honorific speech. We don't necessarily only use it towards people who are in the conversation, but we also use it widely in order to lift up (honor) the topic of the sentence, a person, or a group of people.
To make a verb honorific, take the verb stem, and add -시 or -(으)시. This is now the honorific form of the verb in the dictionary form.
-시다 is used for verbs ending with vowels
아프다 (apeuda) "to be hurt"
아프 - verb stem
아프 + 시다 - verb stem + honorific infix
아프시 + conjugation
아프시 + 입니다 (verb stem + formal politeness level conjugation)
아프십니다.
-(으)시 is used with verb stems ending in consonants
괜찮다 (gwenchanta) "to be ok, to be alright"
괜찮 - verb stem
괜찮 + 으시 - verb stem + honorific infix
괜찮으시 + conjugation
괜찮으시 + 어요(verb stem + standard politeness level conjugation)
괜찮으셔요.
*The actual politeness level used in the speech is for the person you are talking with. A sentence can have either a polite ending or the honorific infix, or can also include both.
We conjugateverbs that end with the vowel -으 differently than other verbs when the conjugation starts with a vowel. Essentially, we replace 'ㅡ' with the vowel that starts the conjugation. When the conjugation starts with a consonant, we conjugate the verb as normal. The conjugation must start with a vowel. In addition, the verb must end with the '으' vowel, and not with a consonant for this irregular conjugation to take place. For example, we conjugate the verb 늦다 (neutda), "to be late" in English, as normal.
Additionally, there is an irregular conjugation when the verb that is being conjugated has two or more syllables, and the vowel in the syllable immediately preceding the '으' syllable is either '아' or '오.' Thus, the preceding syllable affects the conjugation. Instead of determining which conjugation to use according to 으 (which would be typically be a 어 conjugation), the verb is conjugated as if '아' or '오' was the determining vowel (which would be typically be a 아 conjugation).
We usethe affirmative imperative to give a command, request, or an order directly to someone.
The conjugation is identical to the intimate politeness level (아/어/여) and standard politeness level (아/어/여요). These stay in their respective politeness levels.
공부하다 (gongbuhada) "to study"
공부하 + (아/어/여) = 공부해 "study" (imperative - intimate politeness level)
자다 (jada) "to sleep"
자 + (아/어/여요) = 자요 "sleep" (imperative - standard politeness level)
*Many times the standard politeness imperative uses the honorific infix 시 (si) because it's asking someone or telling someone to do something. This is to be polite.
The formal politeness level uses the conjugation: 십시오 (sipssio)
Verb Stem + (으)십시오
오다 (oda) "to come"
오 + (으)십시오 = 오십시오 "come" (imperative - formal politeness level)
We do not use the formal politeness imperative often in casual spoken Korean, or even in formal situations. We generally reserve it for people of extreme importance (i.e. Kings, Queens, Royalty, Presidents, High-ranking military officials, etc.).
*Often, we can find the written form (으)시오 on signs on the street, giving warning or directions to the public. The spoken version of this can be found in many historical Korean dramas as well, however, its use is only relegated to written Korean in modern Korean.
어서오십시오 (eoseoosipssio) is a phrase used in business establishments. Koreans use it to welcome customers when they enter a store, restaurant, or an office. Typically, customers don't respond to greeting. In response, saying 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo, or "hello" in English) can even be too polite; but to acknowledge the person that has greeted the customer, most people will simply nod their head. However, it is not considered rude to ignore this greeting as well since it stays more like formality.
-ㄹ/을 수있다 (-l/eul ssu itta) is a grammatical structure we use to express ability, capability, or possibility (i.e., whether you can or can't speak English, or you can or can't use a computer, etc.). This structure adds on to the end of both descriptive and action verbs to express the possibility or capability of that verb. We can translate it as "can," or "able to." The word 수(su) in this structure means "a way," "a method," or "a possibility," thus making the entire structure express possibility or ability.
We can conjugate the last verb 있다 (itta) to express politeness level, tense, and mood. Traditionally, the verb can inflect negation as well, but in this grammatical structure the negated form would come from the verb opposite the verb 있다 (itta), which is 없다 (eoptta). We can translate the construction -ㄹ/을 수 없다 (-l/eul ssu eoptta) as "cannot" or "not able to." However, when using the construction ㄹ/을 수 없다 (l/eul su eopda), it carries the notion that the speaker (or subject of the sentence) was unable to do something because they did not have the capacity to perform that activity. Using this structure implies that the subject does not possess the ability to perform that action. For example, 먹을 수 없어, which means "I can't eat," in English, implies "I don't have the ability to eat." When expressing "can't" because of factors other than inability, we use the impossibility adverb 못 (mot) instead.
We use ㄹ/수 있다, ㄹ/ 수 없다 for verbs ending with vowels. And use -을 수 있다/없다 with
verb stems ending in consonants.
하다 = 할 수 있다 / 할 수 없다.
먹다 = 먹을 수 없다 / 먹을 수 있다.