This is what I shall call a progressive lesson, meaning the start of the lesson is easy to understand, maybe even review, but, gradually, it gets more and more difficult. Let's begin.
In Korean there is a casual way to say things, and there is a polite way to say things, and, sometimes, there is also a formal way to say things. That means that when you learn Korean you have to learn two, or, sometimes, three ways of saying the same thing: the casual way, the polite way, and the formal way.
The casual way of speaking is used with close friends, and people who are younger than you.
The polite way of speaking is for strangers, and people who are older than you, and people who are ranked higher than you, at work, for example. If your boss is younger than you you still have to speak to him or her politely.
The formal way of speaking, likewise, is used for strangers, people who are older than you, or ranked higher than you. But, moreover, it is the more common way of speaking when addressing a large group of people and it is used in the military. You may also consider using it when addressing the elderly, or any time you wish to show an extra level of respect.
To sumize, I would say polite language is more appropriate for one-on-one interactions and formal is more appropriate when speaking to groups, or showing extra respect to a person.
Polite language and formal language can be used interchangeably. You can mix them into the same paragraph, and, in fact, many words only have one version that is considered both polite, and formal.
However, you should not mix the casual language in with the polite and formal. That, makes no sense. Either you have a respectful relationship with the person you're talking to, or you have a casual-friendly relationship with them. Your relationship shouldn't change mid-speech.
Another thing to note is that because of the three types of language we get a situation in Korean conversations that we don't usually experience in English conversations. A situation where one person is speaking with formal language, and the other person is speaking in casual language. Imagine an English conversation like that. For example, you would say politely and formally "Hello, Grandmother" and your Grandmother would reply all casually "'sup dawg".
Even if you do, by chance, have a grandma who speaks like that she would expect you to match her level of informality. So you would both be speaking casual. Or, in a much more common situation, you would both be speaking formally. It is very rare that you have one person speaking formally, and one speaking casually in an English conversation, but this happens often in Korean.
Let's look at the different parts of a sentence and how they're different depending on whether you are speaking casual, polite or formal.
PRONOUNS
These are the Korean pronouns. Usually with pronouns there is only one form that is both polite and formal.
VERBS
When it comes to verbs and adjectives you'll notice that the formal verbs usually end in m-ni-da,
polite verbs end in -yo
and casual verbs look a lot like polite verbs but without the -yo.
So let's see a sentence in each form (TRANSLATION: I READ. present tense)
But my lessons focus on the three important ones. I call them casual polite and formal, but in Korean they are called or hae-che or ban-mal, hae-yo-che or jon-dae-mal, and hap-shyo-che or ha-ship-si-o-che 하십시오체
Another thing about respect in Korean is that there are completely different vocabulary words for the same action or noun depending on who the subject of your sentence is.
Take, for example, rice. If a child is eating rice it is called 밥 (bap) but if an elderly person is eating rice it is called 진지 (jin-ji) because that is the more respectful way of saying rice. So two different words for the same thing. EVEN THOUGH IT'S THE SAME DAMN RICE FROM THE SAME DAMN POT!
밥 진지
We sort of do this in English like when poor people have mental health issues they are called crazy. When rich people have mental health issues they are called delightfully eccentric. Or if you're a simple peasants you sweat. Fancy ladies glisten.
Here are some more example in Korean.
Let's do a few example sentences so we get a sense of how to use this vocabulary.
EXAMPLE:
The baby eats rice.
The baby is the subject of the sentence. We don't need to use our fancy vocabulary for just a little baby so we use 밥 for rice and 먹다 for eat.
and we say
아이기는 밥을 먹어. when we are talking casually our friends or people younger than us.
아이기는 밥을 먹어요. when we are talking politely to strangers or people older than us. and we say
아이기는 밥을 먹습니다. when we are talking formally to elderly people or large groups or people to which we want to show an extra level of respect.
Here's another example:
Grandparents eat rice.
Grandparents are elderly, so we must be respectful and use our fancy vocabulary when talking about them. We use 진지 for rice and 드시다 for eat. So we say....
조부모님은 진지를 드셔. when we are talking casually our friends or people younger than us.
조부모님은 진지를 드셔요. when we are talking politely to strangers or people older than us. and we say
조부모님은 진지를 드십니다. when we are talking formally to elderly people or large groups or people to which we want to show an extra level of respect.
It's like saying
The baby chows down on some grub.
Grandparents dine on some cuisine.
Do you see how it works? use different vocabulary depending on who you are talking about. and use different verb conjugation depending on who are talking to.
Here's another example:
Little sister sleeps at home.
여동생은 집에서 자.
여동생은 집에서 자요.
여동생은 집에서 자습니다.
The princess sleeps at home.
프린세스는 댁에서 주무셔.
프린세스는 댁에서 주무셔요.
프린세스는 댁에서 주무십니다.
little sister crashes at her pad
the princess retires to her estate
Little sister sleeps at home.
여동생은 집에서 자.
여동생은 집에서 자요.
여동생은 집에서 자습니다.
The princess sleeps at home.
프린세스는 댁에서 주무셔.
프린세스는 댁에서 주무셔요.
프린세스는 댁에서 주무십니다.
yeo-dong-saeng-eun ji-be-seo ja.
yeo-dong-saeng-eun ji-be-seo ja-yo.
yeo-dong-saeng-eun ji-be-seo ja-seum-ni-da.
peu-rin-se-seu-neun dae-ge-seo ju-mu-shyeo.
peu-rin-se-seu-neun dae-ge-seo ja-yo.
and why don't you try a few. how do you translate these sentences. make sure you are using the correct conjugation and correct vocabulary. Rely on what you have learned in my previous videos. I have included hints if you need them and you can check your answers in the comments section.
ps.
Here's a little PS about the verb 계시다. (gye-shi-da). It is the fancy version of 있다 (it-da). It is translated as to exist. If you saw my it-da video you will know that it-da means to exist, or 'to have'. But gye-shi-da is not as versatile as it-da. You can only use it as 'to exist'... not 'to have'. For example, you can say "Grandpa is at home." or "Grandpa exists at home." because, don't forget, that's how they say it in Korea 할아버지는 댁에 계세요. But you can not use gye-shi-da to mean 'to have' for example you can't say Grandpa has a radio. or Grandpa has brown eyes' using the verb gye-shi-da. for those sentences you have to use it-da.
Also... 계시다 has an irregular conjugation. According to our conjugation rules the present tense should be gye-shyeo-yo 계셔요. But it's not. It is gye-se-yo 계세요. Just like in Goodbye 안녕히 계세요.
I told you this lesson was gonna get more complicated as we continue. But if you've seen every video I have done prior to this one my hope is that you followed along every step o the way. If not, don't sweat it. I expect that you at least understood some of this lesson. You may need to review some of my other videos before you get it completely. The comments section is open for questions. It always is. and as I said a moment ago, my fellow students, annyeonghi gyseyo. Thank you for studying with me.
WATCH THE LESSON HERE: https://youtu.be/bhaZuVrDBQE
