Talk with your classmates about your family members. How do you address your family members?

What seems to be happening in the following dialogue?

In this lesson, you will learn how to use Korean honorifics and how to address family members in Korean.

Remember that –요 is attached to the end of the sentence to show respect to the listener? How about when you talk about your father? –(으)세요 can be handy in this case. You can show respect to your father by using this ending.

To show respect for the person doing the action, add –(으)세요 to verb stems that end in a consonant and –세요 to verb stems that end in a vowel.

–(으)세요 is yet another ending in front of which ㄹ-ending verbs drop the ㄹ. Then it will look like a vowel-ending verb stem, so you add –세요 as you would after other vowel-ending verbs:

어머니는 중국에 사세요. (살다)                            Mother lives in China.

Note that some verbs have honorific counterparts that are used instead of adding –(으)세요 to a regular verb.  There are other special honorific words that replace regular words to talk about an honored subject.

할머니, 잘 자요.                     → 할머니, 안녕히 주무세요.         Grandmother, good night! (Sleep well!)

엄마, 저녁 먹어!                     → 엄마, 저녁 드세요.                    Mom, dinner is ready.

내일이 아버지 생일이에요.  → 내일이 아버지 생신이에요.     Tomorrow is my father’s birthday.

–(으)세요 is made up of –(으)시 + 어요 but has an irregular conjugation. With other endings, the basic honorific suffix –(으)시 is seen more clearly in regular conjugations: –(으)시 + 었어요 → –(으)셨어요 and –(으)시 + –(으)ㄹ 거예요 → –(으)실 거예요.

우리 할아버지는 한국에서 오셨어요.                       My grandfather came from Korea.

우리 할머니는 다음 주에 여행가실 거예요.              My grandmother will go on vacation next week.

CONJUGATION PRACTICE

Let’s try to fill in the following chart with the appropriate –(으)세요 form.

<Answer key> 읽으세요, 읽으셨어요, 읽으실 거예요, 주세요, 주셨어요, 주실 거예요, 연습하세요, 연습하셨어요, 연습하실 거예요, 걸으세요, 걸으셨어요, 걸으실 거예요, 쓰세요, 쓰셨어요, 쓰실 거예요, 도우세요, 도우셨어요, 만드세요, 만드셨어요, 만드실 거예요, 있으세요, 있으셨어요, 있으실 거예요, 계세요, 계셨어요, 계실 거예요, 드셨어요, 드실 거예요, 주무셨어요, 주무실 거예요

The following is a summary of all the endings that act “weirdly” after ㄹ-ending verbs and adjectives. Study the shaded parts carefully. The best way to learn them is to repeat them to yourself out loud until they sound natural to you. As you are saying them out loud, you should think of their meanings as well. Better yet, once you are done getting used to the sounds, make simple sentences using these endings and connectors and memorize them. When you feel comfortable with them, move on to an adjective (달다, for example). Draw out your chart and repeat the same exercise.

* The noun-modifying verb ending is –는, and the noun-modifying adjective ending is –(으)ㄴ.

1. –고 있다 am/is/are doing

Another common use of –고 is to connect a main verb to the helping verb 있어요 to express an action in progress.

누가 할머니 생신 파티 사진을 찍고 있어요? Who is taking pictures of the grandmother’s birthday party?

동생이 찍고 있어요.                                       My younger brother/sister is taking the pictures.

While the –아/어요 ending can be used to express the present tense in general, –고 있어요 emphasizes the action in progress.

지금 뭐 해요?                                 What are you doing right now? (no particular action in progress is assumed)

지금 뭐 하고 있어요?                      (I see you doing something) What are you doing right now?

Use –고 있었어요 for an action that was in progress in a past time you are talking about:

누나는 어제 아침에 수업을 듣고 있었어요.  My older sister was taking a class yesterday morning.

You know the difference between 잘 있어! (Goodbye! Literally, Stay well) and 안녕히 계세요 (same meaning, honoring the subject). The same is true for the progressive expression ‑고 있어요. When you wish to express respect for the subject, you use –고 계세요 in place of –고 있어요.

할머니 지금 뭐 하고 계세요?           What is Grandmother doing right now?

지금 요가하고 계세요.                     She is doing yoga right now.

연습 2. 잘 읽고 답하세요.  

Read the text and answer the questions in Korean.

1) Who wrote this to whom?

2) What is this for?

3) Summarize the main messages in complete sentences.

a. __________________________________________________

b. __________________________________________________

c. __________________________________________________

d. __________________________________________________

4) Write a reply as the receiver of this text.

Useful Vocabulary

Show and Tell: My family

Talk about your family and relatives. Share your family album or photos of your family and introduce them to your class in Korean. You can ask questions about your classmates’ families as well. Suggested topics include but are not limited to:

Talk with your partner/small group members first. Then, present in class.

More Family Terms!

Korean is known to have an extensive vocabulary for family terms. Some of the examples are:

• 형제 siblings; male siblings
• 자매 female siblings
• 딸 daughter
• 아들 son
• 맏딸 oldest daughter
• 맏아들 oldest son
• 외동딸 only daughter
• 외동아들 only son
• 손자 grandchildren, grandson
• 손녀 granddaughter
• 이모/이모부 aunt on mother’s side/aunt’s husband
• 고모/고모부 aunt on father’s side/aunt’s husband
• 외삼촌/외숙모 uncle on mother’s side/uncle’s wife
• 삼촌/숙모 uncle on father’s side/uncle’s wife
• 큰아버지/큰어머니 father’s older brother/ his wife
• 작은아버지/작은 어머니 father’s younger brother/ his wife
• 조카 nephew, niece
• 사촌 cousin

Use of Family Terms in Everyday Life

You might have heard someone call her older friends 언니 or 오빠. Koreans use family terms to address people around them, including their older friends, parents’ friends, and even servers at a restaurant. As Korean people do not use first names to call older friends or relatives, it is important to use these terms in conversation.

In addition, as second-person pronouns (you) in Korean are rarely used in polite speech, people use family terms to address people (even strangers) in Korea. Here are some useful titles you can use depending on the person’s gender and estimated age: 할머니 (grandma), 할아버지 (grandma) for older people, and 아줌마 or 아주머니 and 아저씨 (uncle) for (married) people in their 50’s-60’s. Nowadays, “이모님 (mother’s female sibling)” is one of the frequently used terms to address older female servers in small, mom-and-pop restaurants as well as babysitters in their 40s, 50s, and older.

Since it is not always easy to figure out everyone’s respective ages, people often avoid the confusion and just call out 여기요! to call for attention to strangers on the street or servers at a restaurant.