Koreans will use different politeness levels based on who they’re speaking to. For example:
Are you Minji?
Are you Minji?
The two questions above mean the same thing. However, the first one is more formal and polite.
Let’s cover the four most common politeness levels in Korean:
This is the casual form, used between close friends, or when talking to children. It carries with it an implied sense of intimacy or closeness.
To use this form, you simply conjugate a verb to its 아/어 form, but do not add “요” to the end. Take the verb 먹다 (to eat):
Did you eat?
I eat Korean food.
Koreans often omit the object marker in casual speech! Here, you can say “밥” instead of “밥을”.
The casual form can be used instead of (으)세요 to ask someone to do something!
For example:
Please eat.
Eat!
The above two sentences both mean the same thing, but the second one is for casual situations.
But wait - if “먹어” is the casual form of “먹어요”, doesn’t “먹어” translate to “I eat”??
The present tense can be used as an imperative, which means it can be used as a command.
Remember that Korean is very context dependent. Saying “먹어” to someone can be a command depending on the context and your intonation.
The present tense casual form is not the only form that can be used as a command. For example, the informal form, when used with the proper context, can also be a command:
Similarly, instead of using 지 마세요, you can casually ask someone not to do something:
Stop/Don’t do it!
Don’t come!
You can think of this as your everyday, polite voice. Generally used when talking to someone of higher social status than you, or someone who is of equal or lower status who you still want to be polite to (e.g. a stranger).
This forms uses the “아/어요” form that we’ve seen so often.
I’m very busy today.
Are you learning Korean?
The present tense can also be used to talk about the present progressive.
There is a way to say “I’m doing…” or “I’m going…” which we’ll learn later. However, Koreans often just use the present tense if the context is clear:
The textbook translation of “한국어를 공부해요” is “I study Korean”.
This form is used in professional settings, for example in the military, when making a public speech, when talking to your boss, when writing a newspaper article, etc.
To use this form, attach 습니다 if the verb stem ends in a consonant, or ㅂ니다 if it ends in a vowel.
Example with 하다 (to do):
I study Korean.
Example with 했다 (past tense of “to do”):
Yesterday I exercised.
Future tense with 먹다 (to eat):
I will eat dinner.
More examples:
A cat walks across the frozen Han river.
*“위로” can mean - up (to), over, above, or in this case, across.
*“다니다” means to go to and from a place. It implies that there’s movement.
*“걸다” means to walk. So “걸어다니다” basically means “walking”.
*This was said in a Korean news broadcast and has since become viral on social media.
This is also known as the plain form. It’s usually only found in writing, or in the military.
You can use this form in daily speech, but only in certain situations. Be careful, as this form is not as intimate as the casual form, so using it incorrectly can make you sound distant and harsh.
This form usually ends in ㄴ다, 다, or 는다. We’ll cover this in more detail in a future lesson.
Examples:
It will be delicious/sounds delicious!
It will be fun/sounds fun!
We just covered the 4 most common politeness levels in Korean!
There are actually 3 more politeness levels that we haven’t covered; however, they’re almost never used. If you are curious, you can read up on them on your own time.
See you in the next lesson!