Honorifics and Politeness Levels in Korean

I did not categorize this lesson by level for a reason. It may be too difficult for beginners, but it is such a crucial part of Korean and used extremely frequently. I recommend you study the overall concepts the first time you visit this lesson, the first time you became curious about it. It is only normal that you will feel overwhelmed by its complexity. Honorifics are one of the aspects of Korean that native speakers acquire last. Revisit this post after you advance your Korean. As your Korean improves, you will understand these better and will be able to use them properly.

VOCAB

존댓말: polite speech
반말: non-polite, casual speech
높임말: honorifics

3 TYPES OF KOREAN HONORIFICS

Listener Honorifics

• Determines your politeness to the listener, who you are talking to
• Reflected in the sentence endings ~(스)ㅂ니다, ~아/어요, ~아/어, ~다.
• If you are talking to your close friends and family to whom you do not need to use polite endings, you speak in 반말: ~아/어 (style called 해체 in Korean), ~다 (style called 해라체 in Korean).
• When talking to colleagues, elders, someone you are not close to and must be polite or formal, you speak in 존댓말: ~(스)ㅂ니다 (called 합쇼체 in Korean), ~아/어요 (called 해요체 in Korean).

EXAMPLES

My younger brother/sister is smart.
제 동생은 똑똑해요. (polite to the listener)
내 동생은 똑똑해. (not polite to the listener: to close friends and family)

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Subject Honorifics

• Determines your politeness to the subject who does the action in the verb, the subject of the sentence: who you are talking about. It does not matter who you are talking to, the listener. Even if you are talking to your friend, if you are talking about someone who must show respect to, you use this.
• Reflected in the suffix ~(으)시~ : suffix is attached to the verb stem and before the endings.
• ~(으)시~ + ~아/어요 = ~(으)세요.
  • In reality, if you are talking to someone you must be polite to with the subject of the sentence being “you” as in “How are you doing?” “(You) please sit down.” to customers, bosses, elders, you will use both subject honorific suffix ~(으)시~ to honor “you” as the subject of the sentence as well as the polite ending ~아/어요 to be polite to “you” as a listener.
  • When you combine ~(으)시~ and ~아/어요, it’s ~(으)셔요. However, in modern Korean, people say ~(으)세요. You still hear ~(으)셔요 from older people.
  • Without ~요, ~(으)시~ + ~어/아 stays regular = ~(으)셔. [not being polite to the listener]

EXAMPLES

What are you doing?
뭐 하십니까? (Honoring “you” as the subject of the sentence and also being polite to “you” as a listener)
Sounds very polite but also very formal – used in military, extremely formal situations
뭐 하세요? (Honoring “you” as the subject of the sentence and also being polite to “you” as a listener)
Sounds polite enough to ask someone older or higher than you without being super formal
뭐 해요? (Being polite to the listener but not honoring)
Does not sound polite enough to someone older or higher
Appropriate between peers who are still not close friends or from older to younger
뭐 해? (Neither honoring “you” as the subject nor being polite to “you” as a listener)
= 반말, non-polite and casual: use only with your close friends around similar ages or family

My teacher is kind.
저희 선생님은 친절하세요. (Honoring the subject: teacher with ~(으)시~ and being polite to the listener)
저희 선생님은 친절해요. (Being polite to the listener but not honoring the subject: teacher)
우리 선생님은 친절하셔. (Honoring the subject: teacher with ~(으)시~ but not being polite to the listener)
우리 선생님은 친절해. (Neither honoring the subject: teacher nor being polite to the listener)

Honorific Topic and Subject Particles:

TOPIC-은/는	TOPIC-께서는
SUBJECT-이/가	SUBJECT-께서

저희 선생님께서는 정말 친절하세요. My teacher is very kind. (talking to an older or higher listener)
우리 선생님께서는 정말 친절하셔. My teacher is very kind. (talking to a friend)

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Object Honorifics

• Carried out by humbling yourself in relation to the indirect object (-한테, -께) to whom you give something (=indirect object of the sentence)

OBJECT-한테, 에게 (to someone)	OBJECT-께
OBJECT-한테(서), 에게(서) (from someone)	OBJECT-께
주다 (to give)	드리다

When you give something to someone older or higher, replace 주다 with 드리다 to lower and humble yourself, which end up honoring the recipient.

제가 친구한테 선물을 줬어요. I gave a gift to my friend. (no object honorifics)
제가 할머니께 선물을 드렸어요. I gave a gift to my grandmother. (object honorifics)

전화할게. I will call you. (I will give you a call) – no listener, subject or object honorifics
전화할게요. – honoring the listener (~요 ending) but no subject of object honorifics
전화드릴게요. – honoring the listener (~요 ending) and the object who you’re giving the call to (드리다)

Difference between 주시다 and 드리다

주시다: 주다(to give) + ~(으)시~ (honoring the subject who gives)
= Use 주세요 “Please give me…” to honor the other person who is the subject that gives you something
드리다: the humble form of 주다 = honoring the object who you are giving to by humbling yourself
= Use 드리다 when you are giving something to someone in a humble and polite way

As a customer, you make a request with 주세요: the subject who gives service and goods is the employee. By adding the subject honorific suffix ~(으)시~ with the polite ending ~요, you are honoring the employee who is the subject of the sentence as well as the listener.

The employee, who is the subject: giving the service to the customer, in return will humble themselves as the subject in order to honor the customer, who is the object: receiving the service with 드리다.

EXAMPLES
손님: 커피 한 잔 주세요. “Please (you) give me a cup of coffee.” – honoring “you” as subject and listener
직원: 영수증 드릴까요? “Shall I give you the receipt?” – honoring listener, also object of the sentence