• Conduct a formal interview using appropriate honorifics.
• Provide justification or additional information using 거든(요).
• Express what you just realized and understood using 군(요)/구나

• INGREDIENTS – 단어 Vocabulary
  • Honorific expressions
• RECIPE – 문법과 표현 Grammar
  • Honorifics Revisited
  • A/V–거든
  • A/V-군(요)/구나
• LET’S COOK! – 해 봐요! Classroom Tasks
  • Interpretive Task 1: An interview with a Korean filmmaker
  • Interpretive & Interpersonal Task 2: An interview with Kevin Suh, the member of the year
  • Interpersonal & Presentational Task 3: My role model
• KOREAN FLAVORS – 한국어와 한국 문화 Korean Language & Culture
  • Korean pronouns 2: “You” in Korean
  • OO 님? OO 씨?
• NOW YOU TRY! – 스스로 해봐요! Async. Practices and Tasks
  • WB Link
  • Communicative Task Link

If you were to interview a famous celebrity, what kind of questions would you like to use? Read or listen to the conversation and find out what they are talking about.

존댓말 Review: Inherent honorific forms

In Lesson 16 of Book 2, we learned a few verbs and particles that are inherently honorific (or humbling), that is, they are used when talking about a person to be honored. When you speak of your grandfather’s age, for example, you use 연세to show respect, not 나이. Likewise, there are also a number of inherently honorific verbs that honor the Subject, which are not simply derived by using –(으)시 but are completely different verb roots from the non–honorific equivalents. Here is a summary chart for your review.

겸양어 Honoring the object (humble form)

Humble pronouns are part of the Honorifics System of Korean, by which the social status of each player in a sentence is encoded. Use the humble pronouns when talking about yourself to people you have just met and to people of higher social status, and anytime you are using the –(스)ㅂ니다/까 speech style:

*Noun markers can be attached normally to the base pronouns 저, 나, and 저희 (저는, 나만, 저희도, 저를, 저희까지, etc.).  However, the Subject and possessive take the special forms as shown above (내+가, 제+가).

There are several inherently honorific verbs that honor the Object; that is, recognizing that the Object has higher status than the Subject.

존댓말 Honorific particles

Korean also has inherently honorific markers that attach to a noun referring to an honored person. When your grandfather is the Subject of the sentence, use the honorific Subject marker, –께서 (instead of –이/가). Unlike plain markers, the honorific SUBJECT marker –께서 and the honorific DATIVE marker (or Indirect Object marker) –께can come together with other markers such as –도, –만, and –은/는.

주다 and 받다 to give and receive

Another honorific pattern to clarify is the usage of 주다 and 드리다. When giving takes place, something moves from one person to another. The relationship between those two people, then, is encoded in the Korean honorifics system. When someone is giving TO someone of higher status than the giver (the giving is “upward”), the verb 드리다 is used.  You can think of 드리다 as meaning “to give to someone of higher status.” When the giving is “downward” (TO someone of lower status), or “straight across,” then the verb주다 is used. But note that when the Subject (the giver) is to be honored, the honorific –(으)시 is added to 주다, thus 주시다, according to what you learned in Lesson 9.

UPWARDS:
드리다	저는 교수님께 보고서를 드렸습니다. I gave the report to my professor.
드리시다	아버지께서 할머니께 꽃을 드리셨습니다. Father gave flowers to Grandma. (Father is also honored, thus use -(으)시)
DOWNWARDS AND STRAIGHT ACROSS:
주시다	박교수님께서 학생에게 상을 주십니다. Professor Park gives an award to a student.
주다	오빠가 가끔 저한테 문자를 줍니다. My brother often texts me.

드리다 is also often accompanied by the following nouns:

Note that the “giving” honorifics are also used in auxiliary/helping verb constructions like we learned in lesson 6  when someone is doing something for someone. So we will get forms like 도와 드리다, 도와 드리시다, and 도와 주시다, too.

Practice

Write the honorific or humble forms for the following words.

<답> 성함, 댁, 연세, 주시다, 주무시다, 저, 제, 저희, 드리다, 뵙다

2. A/V-거든(요) you see

–거든 is a sentence ending that indicates a clarification, justification or reasoning is being provided, especially in an answer to a question that has not been explicitly asked, or as an afterthought.

Note: Some of the many variant  pronunciations of –거든in youngsters’ speech are –거등, –거덩, 거들랑 and –걸랑:

For the past tense, the past tense morpheme 었 is used before 거든. In addition, some speakers use –거든 a lot in their speech as a personal style trait.

Note: You may occasionally see –거든 (거들랑) as a clause connector preceding a command or a suggestion, in which case it just means if or in the case that:

Conjugation

Let’s practice –거든 conjugations, which are regular. Just follow the rule of consonant-beginning endings in the present tense. The past tense form conjugates like other –아/어 beginning endings.

<답> 보냈거든, 굽거든, 알리거든, 알렸거든, 만들거든, 만들었거든, 듣거든, 들었거든, 가르치거든, 가르쳤거든

Review: A/V–네(요) Expressing the speaker’s spontaneous reaction

You learned in first year that the ending –네(요) expresses the speaker’s spontaneous and immediate reaction to a situation (with slight unexpectedness).  –네(요) is indeed an ending that expresses one’s emotion, which is why it is widely used in poems and song lyrics.

A/V–군(요) oh, I see; a-ha!

There is a more thoughtful or reflective counterpart of the –네ending, which is – (는)군(요).  The – (는)군(요) ending expresses that the speaker has mentally processed or understood something, gaining insight or registering what is happening around her – a sense of ‘a–ha’ or ‘Oh, I see!’ While –네shows that the speaker has noticed (or seen) something interesting, – (는)군(요) shows that the speaker has noticed (and processed) that something is different from what she previously thought.

–는군(요) is used after present–tense verbs (yes, both consonant–ending and vowel–ending verbs), and –군(요) is used after adjectives, 있다and 없다, and 이다, (including future – (으)ㄹ 것이다), and the past tense of anything. As can be imagined,  (는)군 feels more like self–talk than (는)군요 since  (는)군요 needs an interlocutor,  polite company. Here are a few examples that demonstrate the conjugation rules.

A/V–구나

Similar to –는군(요) and ––군(요) are the exclamatory –는구나 (for verbs) and –구나 (for adjectives). You will hear lots of expressive intonation change and a longish -나 with these. Since such exclamations are self–addressed by nature (e.g. wow! whoa!), the politeness marker –요 cannot be attached to –는구나 and –구나:

Conjugation

Let’s complete this chart. The difference here is between verbs and adjectives, where all verbs take –는군, and adjectives & past/future tenses take –군.

<답> 만드는군요, 만드는구나, 만들었군요, 만들 거군요, 기대하는군요, 기대하는구나, 기대했군요, 기대할 거군요, 싱겁군요, 싱겁구나, 싱거웠군요, 싱거울 거군요, 꼼꼼하군요, 꼼꼼하구나, 꼼꼼했군요, 꼼꼼할 거군요

1. 대화 연습

Create a role play with your partner using the key grammar expressions and new vocabulary from this lesson. Include 5 to 6 meaningful rounds of dialogue. Take turns and feel free to add details to make the conversation lively.

• Context: A host of a famous talk show is having a conversation with a celebrity about their recent work. Exchange questions and answers  using appropriate honorifics.
• Participants: A talk show host and a celebrity (e.g., musician, director, actor, etc.),
• Key Expressions:
• Sample Dialogue:

On a TV talk show, Korean film director, Dahye Choi was interviewed as a special guest.

1. Listen to the interview and summarize in Korean what you learned. (Write as much as you can, in complete sentences.)

• ___________________________________________.
• ___________________________________________.
• ___________________________________________.

Helpful Vocabulary

상상 imagination

2. Who wrote the screenplay for the film “Memories of the Game,” and what is it based on?

3. What was the director’s reaction to the award she received?

An Interview with Kevin Suh, Member of the Year

A reporter for the Korean Culture Center’s Newsletter in your local community has selected you as Member of the Year. Your written interview responses will be featured in the upcoming newsletter. Please read the questions and write your replies to send to the reporter. ( –거든요, 존댓말)

For your reference, this is a part of the newsletter interview article from last year. Please read it before you write your responses.

Useful Vocabulary

뽑히다 to be chosen

기억에 남다 memorable

조언 advice

진심으로 sincerely

The Person I Admire Most

1. Do you have a role model or someone you highly respect? Who is that person, and why do you admire them? (Alternatively, you may talk about someone else such as your favorite celebrity.) Exchange your thoughts about this person with your friends.

2. Present formally about the person you admire most. Use honorific expressions appropriately. Additionally, try to include the following points in your presentation.

Introduce the person and provide some background information about their life and achievements.

Explain why you admire this person and what qualities or characteristics they possess that inspire you.

You know that the use of any kind of word for “you” is very limited in Korean.  Normally, a person’s title is used where there is one, both to call the person and to talk about the person: “김선생님, 선생님께서는 어디로 가세요?”  “Teacher (Kim), which way are you going?” See more titles below:

If you do not know the professional title of the person, you can borrow family relationship terms to address a person (see below).

If you become familiarized with the person, even in a formal environment like a workplace, you can start using 씨 following the person’s first name, if the person is about your age or one or two years off:

Finally, if you are a student or addressing someone younger than you that you have known since childhood, you can use 이 after names that end in a consonant:

Korean is known for its Confucianist cultural traits, such as where people often address one another using titles instead of their names as a token of politeness. However, this deeply rooted tradition is facing societal changes in Korea. In colleges, more students prefer using a neutral title 씨 or more polite suffix 님 to address each other rather than using family terms such as 언니, 오빠, 형, or 누나, as shown below or standard terms to refer one’s upper–classmen such as 선배님.

Titles

(Typically with the first name of the person’s oldest grandchild or oldest child: 동호 어머니)

(Typically with the person’s first name)

The same changes have been reported in workplaces. For several years, large corporations have been working on simplifying titles and positions to promote a more “horizontal” and democratic work culture. For example, one of the leading companies in Korea recently restructured its job hierarchy, reducing job levels from seven to four tiers in 2017. Additionally, the same company adopted a new way to address people using the title “pro (professional)” or 님 instead of job titles. In extreme cases, some tech companies use English names instead of employees’ Korean names, so they do not have to worry about what to call each other. As large corporations lead and implement the changes, such trends as using 님 or encouraging mutual honorifics are spreading to small and medium-sized businesses.

For more information, click on this link to read an article, “Call me by my English name’ in the Korea Times published on February 10, 2023: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2022/04/419_327466.html