UNIT 7: The Korean Formal and Polite Speech “존댓말”

Normally, there are situations that people tend to talk either formally or casually depending on who is the addressee. For an instance, when greeting the elders and/or people with the respectable profession, you formally say, “Good morning Sir!” But in another situation, you could just greet your friends saying, “Hello, morning!”

Korean also has different speech levels for serving these purposes as discussed in the previous unit. They had also the two ways of speaking, 존댓말 and 반말. The formal and polite way to talk to people you don’t know as strangers or who are older than you is 존댓말. On the other hand, 반말 is used toward close friends or people who are younger than you.

However, we will only focus with the “deferential speech level” and “polite speech level” among the 6 speech levels since both aforementioned speech levels belong to the Korean formal and polite speech, 존댓말.

The Deferential Speech Level

There are other colloquial terms for deferential speech level that others used to call, the formal polite speech and the very polite speech. The deferential speech level is mainly used for public speaking or formal communication setting such as broadcasting, public speech, conference, presentations, and so on. The deferential speech level has four different endings for each type of sentence; -습니다/-ㅂ니다 (declarative), -습니까/-ㅂ니까 (interrogative), -(으)십시오 (imperative), and -읍시다/-ㅂ시다 (propositive).

Declarative

In making a statement, there are two declarative ending forms are being used. When the stem ends in a consonant, the used of -습니다 is required, as for this instance, 돕+습니다 = 돕습니다 “(someone) helps”. However, -ㅂ니다 is used when the stem ends in a vowel, like of 오 + ㅂ니다 = 옵니다 “(someone) comes”.

Since the deferential speech level indicates a sense of formality, there are numbers of fixed/formulaic expressions are made from this speech level ending such as the following:

    잘  먹겠습니다              “Thanks for the meal”   (lit., “(I) will eat well”)

    잘  먹었습니다              “Thanks for the meal”   (lit., “(I) ate well”)

    처음 뵙겠습니다    “Nice to meet you”   (lit., “It is (my) first time meeting you”)

    만나서  반갑습니다     “Nice to meet you”   (lit., “(I) am glad because (I) meet you”)

    사과합니다                      “I apologize”   (lit., “(I) do apology”)

    감사합니다                      “Thank you”   (lit., “(I) do gratitude”)

Interrogative

There are two ending forms being used in the interrogative (question). -습니까 is used for the stem ending in a consonant, like of 돕습니까? “(do you) help?” On the other hand, -ㅂ니까 is used when the stem is ending in a vowel, as in 옵니까? “(do you) come?” Consider these following more examples,

    가다  “go”                       언제  서울을 갑니까?  “When (do you) go to Seoul?”

    요리하다  “cook”       이 쇠고기를 어떻게 요리합니까?  “How (do you) cook this beef?”

    찾다  “find”                    어디에서 식당을 찾습니까?  “Where (do you) find the restaurant?”

    입다  “wear”                 이 것을 어떻게 입습니까?  “How (do you) wear this thing?”

Imperative

For the imperative (command/request), two ending forms are being used. The ending -으십시오 is used when the stem ends in a consonant, like of 돕으십시오 “help”. However, the ending -십시오 is being used if the stem ends in a vowel, as in 오십시오 “come”. Consider these following more examples, 

    보다  “look”                칠판을  보십시오  “Look at the board”

    주다  “give”                그 한국어 책을 주십시오!  “Give (me) that Korean book!”

    벌다  “earn”                돈을  많이 벌으십시오  “Earn a lot of money”

    잡다  “catch”              그 물고기를 잡으십시오!   “Catch that fish!”

Propositive

In making suggestion, there are two propositive ending forms are being used. When the stem ends in a consonant, the used of -읍시다 is required, as in  돕읍시다 “(let us) help”. However, -ㅂ시다 is used when the stem ends in a vowel, like of  옵시다 “(let us) come”. Consider these following more examples,

    배우다  “learn”           한국 언어를 배웁시다  “(Let us) learn Korean language” 

    따르다  “follow”         규칙을 따릅시다  “(Let us) follow the rules”

    읽다  “read”                 설명서를 먼저 읽읍시다  “(Let us) read the instructions first”

    살다  “live”                    끝날  때까지 인생을 살읍시다  “(Let us) live life until the end”

The Polite Speech Level

The polite speech level is the informal complement of the deferential speech level. Thus, it is neither the casual nor formal speech level. The polite speech level is the most commonly and broadly used regardless of age or gender, and in any situation where the polite language is called for. Some of its usages are when addressing someone of senior status in casual, non-formal, or daily types of conversations; used to non-childhood friends who began their friendship in adulthood; and the most common speech level that is used toward strangers.

There are two form endings for the polite speech level, -어요 and -아요. The ending -아요 is used when the verb and/or adjective stem ends or contains either -아 or –오. However, -어요 is used when the verb and/or adjective stem ends or contains in any other vowels. Consider the following examples,

    Dictionary Form                          The Polite Speech Level Endings

   마시다  “drink”                                      마셔요 (contracted from 마시 + 어요)

   꿈꾸다  “dream”                                  꿈꿔요 (contracted from 꿈꾸 + 어요)

   벌다  “earn”                                            벌어요 (벌 + 어요)

   숨다 “hide”                                              숨어요 (숨 + 어요)

   물어보다  “ask”                                    물어봐요 (contracted from 물어보 + 아요)

   바라다  “desire”                                    바라요 (contracted from 바라 + 아요)

   잡다  “catch”                                          잡아요 (잡 + 아요)

   닦다  “wipe”                                           닦아요 (닦 + 아요)

Notice that some verbs or adjectives like of 바라다  is not 바라아요 but 바라요. The reason is attributed to the vowel contraction in Korean which states, “when similar or the same two vowels appear together (e.g., 바라 + 아 = 바라) then, the vowels tend to be contracted”.

However, this rule could not apply to the copula 이다 “be” and 아니다 “be not” as well as the 하다 “do”. The conjugation of 이다, 아니다 and 하다 in polite speech level is irregular. Consider the following,

이다                 이어요 (X)               이에요 (O)    

아니다            아니어요 (X)              아니에요 (O)

하다                  하아요 (X)                해요 (O)

The endings -어요 and -아요 of the polite speech level are used for all sentenced-types: declarative, interrogative, imperative, propositive. For an instance, consider the following:

             식사를 먹어요      “(I) eat meal”

            식사를 먹어요?  “(Do you) eat meal?”

     식사를 먹어요!  “Eat meal!”

     식사를 먹어요.  “(Let us) eat meal.”

Thus, Korean people use contextual elements and intonation (e.g., rising of intonation in asking a question) to identify the type of sentence being used.

The Combined Use of the Deferential and Polite Speech Levels

There are possible scenarios in which Koreans used the deferential and polite speech level together in formal conversational settings. For instance, when meeting a person for the first time. The speakers may use the deferential speech level in introducing his/her self through the aforementioned fixed/formulaic expressions and then, will switch to the polite speech level after knowing each other. The use of polite speech level ending makes the dialogue sounds less formal even in the formal conversational contexts.