Let’s break down the “세요” ending that we’ve seen many times before.
Do you like cats?
”(으)세요” comes from the dictionary ending (으)시다, which is an honorific ending.
This means that (으)시다 is used to show respect towards the subject of the sentence. Here are some situations where you’d use this ending:
(으)시다 will attach to a verb stem, using this rule:
This creates a new, base form honorific verb. For example:
To conjugate these new verbs in the present tense, you’d use the 어/아요 form of 시다:
Sentence examples:
My uncle comes to our house.
Grandma goes to the supermarket.
The “셔요” endings above can be interchanged with “세요”. This is where 세요 comes from!!!
세요 is much more common in writing and in speech.
Only the present tense informal form, 셔요, can be interchanged with 세요. If you need to use the past tense, for example, you cannot use 세요. Conjugate 시다 using normal past tense rules:
Have you been busy these days?
My uncle came to our house.
There are verbs that are exceptions to the general rules above for adding 시다. Let’s review:
For verbs that end with the consonant ㄹ, remove the ㄹ before adding 시다. For example:
Please sell a lot!
For verbs that end with ㅎ, remove the ㅎ. For example:
Sure, go ahead.
For verbs that end with ㅂ, remove the ㅂ and add 우 before 시다. For example:
Teacher, are you cold?
For verbs that end with ㄷ*, replace the ㄷ with a ㄹ. For example:
My mom listens to podcasts.
*Not all verbs that end with ㄷ are irregular! You will need to memorize them.
For verbs that end with ㅅ, remove the ㅅ and add 으시다 (not 시다!). For example:
Get well soon!
Even still, there are some special honorific forms that you’ll need to remember:
먹다 (to eat) and 마시다 (to drink) both become 드시다:
Did you eat dinner?
있다 (to exist) becomes 계시다:
Goodbye (be/stay peacefully)!
없다 (to not exist) becomes 안 계시다:
The teacher is not at school.
말하다 (to speak) becomes 말씀하시다:
Grandfather spoke.
자다 (to sleep) becomes 주무시다:
Grandma, did you sleep last night?
Congratulations on making it through this lesson! Take a breather.
Note that since this form is used to show respect to the subject of the sentence, you can use this form in casual conversation with a close friend to talk about a third party. For example:
Your mom is kind!
너 is a casual way to say “you” in Korean. We’ll cover ways to say “you” in a future lesson.
There are still other ways to honor the subject or person you’re talking to in Korean, that don’t involve (으)시다. For example, 께 is the honorific form of 에게, a particle which we’ll cover later.
See you in the next lesson!