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seoulbndlanguage · 6 years

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Learn Korean Ep. 94: Korean Honorifics (Part 2 of 2)

Last episode we learned about honorific speech, honorific verbs, making commands with the ~(으)세요 form, and honorific nouns. This lesson will continue from where we left off.

Humble speech is similar to honorific speech, in that it can be combined with other forms, and is used to show a certain level of respect to the person you are speaking about.

However, while honorific speech is used to show extra respect to a person we’re talking about, humble speech is a bit different. Humble speech is used to show humility. This is figuratively as if the speaker is lowering himself or herself down to the person he or she is speaking about.

드리다 “to give”

Let’s first take a look at an example sentence:

내일 선물을 줄 거예요. “I will give you a present tomorrow.”

This sentence is grammatically fine. However, what if the person we’re giving the present to (the person we’re talking about – here, “you” in the sentence) is someone who we’d want to show extra respect to?

We can’t use the honorific verb 주시다 (“to give”), because that would be adding extra respect to ourselves (the person who is speaking, and giving the present). But we still want to show extra respect. We can use a humble verb to figuratively lower ourselves down when giving the gift – almost as if we’re bowing down and holding up the present to them. Here is what the sentence could look like using a humble verb:

내일 선물을 드릴 거예요. “I will give you a present tomorrow.”

This sentence has the same meaning as the first one, but we’ve switched the verb 주다 (“to give”) with 드리다 (“to give”), which is a humble verb.

Using 드리다 shows humility from the speaker toward the person who he or she is giving something to.

뵈다 (or 뵙다) “to see”

뵈다 (or sometimes 뵙다) is another common humble verb. Here’s an example of a regular sentence:

내일 봐요. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

What if we are saying this sentence to our boss? Although we can of course change the ~요 form to the ~니다 form, this would not show enough extra respect. Instead, we can add humility to our sentence and increase how much respect is shown to the boss.

We can exchange 보다 (“to see”) for the verb 뵈다 (“to see”), or 뵙다 (“to see” – a tiny bit more humble). Here’s what the sentence would look like:

내일 봬요. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Both 뵈다 and 뵙다 conjugate as 봬요 in the ~요 form, or 뵙니다 and 뵙습니다 in the ~니다 form.

And both sentences (봐요 and 봬요) have the same literal meaning. The second sentence shows extra humility toward the boss.

Mid-Lesson Review

So around here you might be expecting a list of verbs that can become humble verbs. Fortunately, there aren’t many humble verbs we have to learn – there are only 2 common humble verbs that we need to learn, and we’ve already covered them (드리다 and 뵈다/뵙다).

Let’s do a quick recap. Using honorific verbs shows extra respect toward the person who we’re talking about. Using a humble verb is kind of like the speaker is also bowing down toward the person who they’re talking about – lowering themselves.

Because of this, you’ll never use humble speech (such as 드리다) when someone else is giving something to you, because that would be figuratively making them bow down to you.

Honorific and Humble Particles

There are a few particles that are also preferred when using honorific speech or humble speech. These particles show extra respect to the person that they come after (they’re only used with people). Here are those particles:

(Subject Marker) 이/가  께서 (Topic Marker) 은/는  께서는 (To/From [a person]) 에게(서)  께

Let’s look at an example of each one:

아버지께서 집에 안 계세요 “Dad is not at home.”

Using 아버지가 would still be grammatically correct, but would not show the proper amount of respect to the dad. Since we’re already using 계시다 instead of 있다, it’s best to complete the sentence by also using one of these particles.

이제 할머니께서는 주무실 거예요. “Grandma will sleep now.”

This sentence uses not only the particle 께서는, but also the honorific verb 주무시다 (“to sleep”). It shows a proper amount of extra respect to the grandmother.

선생님께 선물을 드렸어요. “I gave the teacher a present.”

This sentence has the same grammatical meaning as 선생님에게 선물을 줬어요, but shows not only extra respect by using 께, but humility by using the verb 드리다 instead of the normal verb 주다.

Advanced Notes

~해 드리다

드리다 can also be used in place of 주다 when doing and asking for favors. For a review of this, see Episode 36. Here’s an example.

제가 해 줄게요. 제가 해 드릴게요. “I’ll do it for you.”

Conclusion

Honorific speech and humble verbs can be confusing at first, because English doesn’t have a similar concept. But these are essential to speaking Korean like a native.

Not being a native Korean means that you won’t be held to the same standard as a Korean would, and mistakes are often forgiven. However, the more Korean you are able to use, the more you will be expected to properly use politeness levels, honorific speech, and humble verbs.

It will take practice to feel comfortable with these concepts. Take your time, because these are not beginner concepts. They can only be mastered through frequent review and practice.

If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message through my web site or on YouTube. Good luck in your studies!

#go billy #lesson #korean #pdf #lesson pdf

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seoulbndlanguage · 6 years

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Learn Korean Ep. 1: How to say "Have to~" in Korean

여러분 (this means “everyone”), welcome to the wonderful language of Korean! Actually, if you’re reading this it probably means you’ve already been learning the Korean language, or at least learned 한글 (“Hangul,” the Korean alphabet) as well as a few grammar points, and are looking for ways to improve your Korean further. I’m here to help! I’ve studied Korean the hard way – by studying it hard, and for a long time! And I know what parts can become obstacles for Korean learners. 그럼, 시작할까요? (“Well then, shall we start?”)

Today’s lesson will cover how to say the following:

“Have to~” (As in, “I have to do something.”)

“Need to~” (As in, “I need to do something.”)

“Must~” (As in, “I must do something.”)

Let’s go over each of these concepts one at a time.

“Need to~” or “Have to~” verb stem + (아/어/etc) + 야 되다

This form can either mean “need to~” or “have to~.” Although “need to~” and “have to~” have a different feeling in English, there’s no need to distinguish between the two in Korean.

What is a verb stem? A verb stem is just a verb, minus the “다” at the end. The verb stem of 먹다, “to eat,” is just “먹,” and the verb stem of “놀다,” “to hang out” or “to play,” is just “놀.” Simple, huh!

What does the middle part, “(아/어/etc)” mean? The middle part is determined when conjugating the 요 form of a verb (e.g. 먹다먹어요, 놀다놀아요). That middle part that’s created when conjugating the 요 form is what I am referring to here – it’s essentially the 요 form, minus the 요. If you don’t already know how to conjugate the 요 form, don’t worry! Episode 2 covers this topic completely.

Common ways to conjugate 되다:

됩니다 (formal, as a statement)

됩니까? (formal, as a question)

돼요 (normal, as a statement or a question)

돼 (casual, as a statement or a question)

된다 (“Plain Form,” as a statement) – “Plain Form” is covered in Episode 17

Let’s go over some example sentences.

밥을 먹어야 됩니다. “I need to eat.” or “I have to eat.”

As this sentence uses “됩니다,” it would be considered formal (extra polite).

친구에게 편지를 써야 돼요. “I need to write a letter to my friend.” or “I have to write a letter to my friend.”

꼭 일을 해야 됩니까? “Do you really need to work?” or “Do you really have to work?”

“꼭” literally means “surely” or “at any cost,” but can also be translated as “really.”

난 빨리 가야 돼! “I need to go quickly!” or “I have to go quickly!”

“난” is a shortened form of “나는,” which is used in casual speech with friends of the same age, or to people you are well acquainted with who are younger than you. Leaving off the 요 at the end also shows that this sentence is casual, and not for speaking to people older than yourself or who you are not well acquainted with already. To make this sentence more polite, you could change “나는” to “저는,” and add a 요 to the end (“저는 빨리 가야 돼요.”).

“Must~” verb stem + (아/어/etc) + 야 하다

The difference between this form and the last one is tone – “must” sounds stronger, and a tiny bit more serious than “have to~” or “need to~.” In Korean, the difference between the two forms is small (smaller than in English). However, feel free to use either one.

Common ways to conjugate 하다:

합니다 (formal, as a statement)

합니까? (formal, as a question)

해요 (normal, as a statement or a question)

해 (casual, as a statement or a question)

한다 (“Plain Form,” as a statement) – “Plain Form” is covered in Episode 17

Let’s go over some example sentences.

지금 학교에 가야 해요. “I must go to school now.” 저는 유럽을 여행해야 합니다. “I must travel Europe.” 저는 선물을 만들어야 해요. “I must make a present.” 저는 한국말을 더 배워야 합니다. “I must learn more Korean.”

I’ve given examples using various forms of both 되다 and 하다, ranging from formal to casual speech. If you’re not sure which one to use, pick either of these two:

~야 돼요 “need to~” or “have to~”“

~야 해요 ”must~”

I hope this PDF lesson will be helpful in addition to watching my videos on YouTube. As always, I appreciate your feedback! Leave comments, suggestions, or requests for future lessons.

#pdf lesson #go billy #pdf #lesson #korean

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