Words to Describe People
HOW TO ASK: 뭐예요? VS 어떻게 돼요?
An honorific way to ask “What is…?” in Korean is 어떻게 돼요/되세요?
이름이 뭐예요? What’s your name? (casually polite) 성함이 어떻게 되세요? (honorific + polite)
성별이 뭐예요? What’s their gender? (casually polite) 성별이 어떻게 돼요? (more polite)
TIP: 되세요 has an honorific suffix ~(으)시~, which makes it more polite than 돼요.
Gender: 성별
남자 man, guy 남자친구 boyfriend 남자 사람 친구 (남사친, this is slang) guy friend for women
여자 woman, girl 여자친구 girlfriend 여자 사람 친구 (여사친, this is slang) female friend for men
성별이 뭐예요? / 성별이 어떻게 돼요? What’s their gender?
남자(여자)예요? Are they man(woman)?
Nationality: 국적
국적이 뭐예요? (국적이 어떻게 돼요/되세요?) What’s the nationality?
어느 나라 사람이에요? Which country person are you (is someone)?
[nationality, ethnicity]
–인(人) = 사람 person
Not a free standing word but only used in sino-Korean words:
한국인 = 한국 사람 Korean
미국인 = 미국 사람 American
외국인 = 외국 사람 foreigner
외계인 = alien
지구인 = earth person = humans (in opposition to 외계인 aliens)
직장인 = salary man (used for people who has a job)
Job: 직업
- 직업이 뭐예요 (어떻게 돼요/되세요)? What’s someone’s job?
- 뭐 하는 사람이에요? Are they a person who does what? = What do they do?
선생님 teacher
교수 professor
의사 doctor
간호사 nurse
변호사 lawyer
판사 judge (courthouse)
회사원 salary man
디자이너 designer
엔지니어 engineer
전업주부 stay-home mom (there’s not separate word for stay-home dad yet)
You can also say:
사업해요. run(s) own business.
식당해요. run(s) a restaurant.
[store]해요 – to say someone own a store
Age: 나이
몇 살이에요/이세요? How old are you?
나이가 어떻게 돼요/되세요? What’s your age?
몇 년생이에요/이세요? What–year-born are you?
몇 학번이에요/이세요? What–school-cohort are you? [the year you entered college]
무슨 띠예요/띠세요? What’s your Chinese zodiac?
[열/스물/서른/마흔: native number] 살이에요. I am …. years old.
구십(90)년생이에요. I am year (19)90 born.
일팔(18 from 2018) 학번이에요. I am year (20)18 cohort in college.
[쥐, 소, 돼지, 개, 닭, 원숭이, etc.] 띠예요. I am [animal name].
