Korean Honorifics: Suffixes, Titles, Pronouns, Verbs and More

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Keith Richer

An educator, designer, and content creator with 10 years of experience. Currently happily living and working in South Korea as a university professor. Enjoys Korean culture, food (especially Bibimbap), dramas, spending time in Korea's beautiful mountains. Has a variety of Korean experiences and relationships that have contributed to his knowledge of Korean culture and its people.

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• Korean Honorifics: Suffixes, Titles, Pronouns, Verbs and More - August 31, 2020
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What Are Korean Honorifics?

There are 3 basic dimensions of honorifics in the Korean language: formality, politeness, and honorificity. This means that the type of Korean you speak could change depending on the situation, the status, or the age of the people involved in the conversation.  To get a better understanding of how these affect the Korean language, let’s look at them individually. Ask yourself….

•   Formality: how formal is the context? How familiar are the parties involved? How serious is the situation?
•   Politeness: is politeness important in this situation? Is the listener older than the speaker? Is the listener of higher status?
•   Honorificity: how much respect does the speaker want to convey? How much respect does the listener deserve?

In western culture, we do not have these strict sets of guidelines that dictate the words and terms we use. However, this concept is not completely absent from the English language. Imagine you were having a conversation with someone you admired and respected, for example, a politician, a famous genius, or an accomplished CEO.  You would probably adjust your manner of speaking to reflect your respect for that person.

If you had a meeting with the president of your country, even if you hate that president, you would probably speak and behave with elevated manners, compared to how you would speak to a friend or family member. Compare:

1. To your friend: “Hey buddy, what’s up?”
2. To the President: “Hello, Mr. President. It’s a pleasure to speak with you.”

This is the general concept of Korean Honorifics, except in Korean culture, the practice is much more common and complex.

Why Do Koreans Use Honorifics?

To show respect to people who are older or of higher status Koreans use honorifics because Korean culture is built on a foundation of Confucianism: which places high importance on social status and age.  

This hierarchy is accepted and rarely challenged. Part of acknowledging this hierarchy is through the practice of using honorifics in communication. By doing so, you are showing the respect that the listener deserves according to their position in the social hierarchy. Wealth, success, accomplishment, and age are considered important characteristics that should be recognized.

Age

This hierarchical culture is followed strictly.  Not only just for differences in status but differences in age as well: even a 1-year age difference is considered enough to warrant honorificity. This article will tell you more about Korean age. 

In many situations, you will see Koreans become overjoyed when they learn that their conversation partner is the same age. They’ll smile, hi-five, giggle, maybe even hug. As strange as it may seem, this is important to them. 

This is because they can speak freely and comfortably to people of the same age, so they will refer to each other as 친구 (chingu, meaning friend), even if they are not close. But if their conversation partner is older, they must use a more polite and formal way of speaking. If they don’t, it could be thought of as disrespectful, embarrassing, or socially insensitive.

This disrespectful situation can also be observed in dramas and everyday life. You may witness a Korean ask another person, “Why are you using this language with me?” More precisely, “Why are you using 반말?” The use of 반말 (ban-mal) is strictly for familiar and informal relationships. Using it inappropriately could be disrespectful and make for an interesting situation, but many times it can be used to tease one another or make jokes.

Status

Differences in status or position is another very common reason to use honorifics.  Honorifics are usually used vertically; from lower-status to higher-status, or younger to older.  Examples:

–        Teacher to Student

–        Employee to Manager, or any superior in the company.

–        Child to parent or grandparent.

–        Citizen to Public official.

Commonly, these titles have particular terms that must be used when a subordinate is addressing a senior.  The most common ones are 님 (nim) and 씨 (ssi) which are attached to a person’s title or name to signify honorficity.  We’ll take a look at some examples later.

Do I Need to Learn Korean Honorifics? 

As a beginner, it is not necessary to use all honorifics correctly in every situation.  But, when speaking with older Korean or people of high status, you should try to imply respect when possible.  You can get by in most conversations without using Korean honorifics. Sometimes, it can even be fun to use honorifics with your Korean friends.

오빠 (oppa), 형 (hyeong),  언니 (eonni) and 누나 (nuna) are probably the most common you will hear and use in everyday life, KPOP, and K-Dramas. Koreans love to figure out each other’s age so they can use these honorifics with each other. These honorifics will often be used in place of the person’s name.  So, it could be really helpful to understand these honorifics when you hear other people use them.

Suffixes & Titles of Korean Honorifics

Korean Honorific Suffix 님(nim)

The use of 님(nim) is often attached to people’s names or titles, and it roughly translates into Mr. Name or Mrs./Ms. Name.  

In western culture, using Mr. or Mrs. may make the listener feel old, and therefore uncomfortable. This is not true in Korea.  님 is a way to show respect to someone older and is used as the more formal version of a person’s title or relationship.

For example:

–        할아버지 is similar to Grandpa, compared to 할아버님 (which is more formal and respectful) similar to Grandfather.

Sometimes the meaning does not change but simply implies formality and politeness. For example:

–         기사 means Driver.  기사님 also means Driver but is more polite and formal.  So that latter is used when speaking directly to the subject. 

Korean Honorific Suffix 씨(ssi)

The use of 씨(ssi) is similar to the use of 님 (above) but it is only attached to people’s names (given name, family name, or full name) to represent formality and politeness.

For example, if you are waiting at the doctor’s office, the receptionist may call your name with 씨 attached to the end because it is a professional situation, and therefore more formal.  Compare: 

–        Suzy 수지 (informal)  compared to   Suzy 수지 씨  (formal)

Korean Honorifics: Family Titles

You can find a list of honorific family titles in Korean. The general rule is to attach 님 after Korean family member titles to make them honorific titles. 

You would use the honorific titles to talk about the listener’s or other people’s family members. 

You may also use the honorific titles to talk about your own family members in formal situations, but you should never use 아드님 or 따님 to talk about your own children.

Note:

1. It is not a typo but a truth that the Korean honorific for 언니 is 형님. Even many Koreans do not know this fact. This is not a commonly used word after all.
2. The only honorific title that doesn’t end with a -님 suffix in the table is 동생분. We add the suffix -분 when calling other people’s younger siblings with respect.

Korean Honorifics: Titles for Non-family

The family member titles for siblings can also be used to address non-family people who are older than you.

You can use 선배(님) to address people who are older or more senior than you in a certain context, and 후배(님) to address people who are younger or less senior than you.

Korean Honorifics: Job Titles 

You would also want to use honorific titles to refer to people at work, because you want to show enough respect to your superiors and co-workers on professional occasions. You can simply address them with their job title + 님. 

If you are a student, you would also use honorific titles to refer to your teachers and professors at school. 

As the example of using 기사님 to call your driver mentioned before, you would also use honorific titles to refer to other people around you in the society. Here are more examples of honorific job titles in the society. 

Pronouns of Korean Honorifics

In Korean, it is normal to use honorifics pronouns even when speaking about yourself in the first-person (“I”) or in the first-person plural (“We”).  This is done to show humility, or imply respect to the listener who may be older of higher status.  You can see the differences in the table below.

It’s important to note that when talking about things such as a family, home, car, etc. it is common to use “Our/We” (우리 wuri, 저희 jeoji) instead of “My”.  This may seem a little unnatural at first, but it becomes rather endearing the more you use it.  For example:

–        “My father works for a company”  becomes  “Our father works for a company”

Even though the listener is not part of the speaker’s family, the speaker is implying a collective notion within his or her own family.

Nouns of Korean Honorifics

Honorifics are so important that Koreans use honorific nouns to show respect when you talk about things related to a person older or higher than you in status. 

As you can see in the table below, the word actually changes entirely. These are also used in official situations or within government work. So it is important to be aware of the different nouns you may hear as a foreigner in Korea.  The most common ones are:

–        Name: 이름 (informal) ↔ 성함 (formal)

–        Person/ People: 사람  (informal)  ↔ 분  (informal)

The key point is to understand that you may hear a different word depending on the situation, so it’s great to be aware of these differences which can help you understand.

Verbs of Korean Honorifics

Often, verbs can be changed to show respect and politeness in your sentences. This can be very important when communicating with people who are older or of a higher status. As you can see in the examples below, often you can make the verb honorific by adding -(으)시 after the verb stem. 

The following table illustrates how some regular verbs in Korean are made honorific verbs. 

But, in some cases, the word changes completely. 

The most common one you will probably be exposed to is the verb EAT:  먹다 or 드시다.  Often Koreans ask “밥 먹었어요?”, which means “Did you eat?”  This is basically how Koreans say, “How are you?” But, when speaking to an older person you should use 식사하셨어요?

The following table provides more examples of irregular Korean honorific verbs. 

Useful Phrases with Korean Honorifics

The structure of the first phrase is: verb stem + 아/어/여해 드릴게요.  This is commonly used to tell someone that you will do something for them. You can translate it to “I will do … for you.” 

For example:

보고서를 써 드릴게요. 

I will write the report for you. 

If you form this phrase as a question, it will be: verb stem + 아/어/여해 드릴까요? This is commonly used to ask someone if they would like you to do something for them? It translates to “Shall I do … for you?”. For example: 

노래해 드릴까요? 

Shall I sing for you? 

Here is a polite way to tell someone to sleep well.

안녕히 주무세요. 

Sleep well. / Good night.

The following phrases are  very common and great things to say when eating with others. 

많이 드세요. 

Please eat a lot. 

Or 

맛있게 드세요. 

Please enjoy your meal.  

This can be used to politely tell someone to speak or tell you something.

말씀하세요. 

Please speak.

This is used to ask if someone is present or available. This phrase is typically used on the phone. 

xx 씨/님 계세요?  

Is xx there? 

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