Ways of saying “you” in Korean (summary) 1. 당신 - romantic, poetic (usually found in song lyrics and the like); may be rude if spoken 2. 그대 - romantic, poetic (usually found in song lyrics and the like) 3. 너 - casual 4. 자네 - someone from an older generation to someone from a way younger generation 5. 그쪽 - literally “that side” but may be used to address a stranger (usually in online messages); may be perceived as impolite 6. 아저씨 - middle-aged man 7. 아줌마 - middle-aged woman (be wary of using this towards younger women!) 8. Name + 씨/님 9. Social title 10. Omit “you” and use honorific forms such as (으)세요 Thanks for the lesson TTMIK!
Before you get overwhelmed, here is simple rule. 1. use title if older/not close. 2. use "너" 3. Koreans don't really use much subject or pronouns. So just don't use "YOU" in the sentences... LOL
@@benduncan4027 Use the ~씨 suffix. Tricky thing though is you'll have to learn some 존댓말 versions of common verbs as they are different in ~씨 form. Adding a ~씨 suffix directs the question/statement to the person you're talking to.
I remember learning English like “oh ok, so there’s just one for everything” 😂 And many other words are like that too, English is so easy to write for real~
same, as realized that anything can be "insulting" or "disrespectful" when for me the only disrespectful things someone can say/do are insult, bully, physical assault someone, gaslight, manipulate and more.
As a Japanese learner this was really fun to watch because of how similarly both languages are used. That word would be あなた in Japanese and it’s sounds like it’s used in almost exactly the same way. Can be used as a romantic term of endearment (usually in fiction/song lyrics but not exclusively) and in person is more commonly used to be rude to others.
In my father generation married couple sometimes used "당신" each other. besides, we always try to find a polite way to call "you" instead "당신" in realife
Watching this video makes me grateful that I am a native....gosh there are so many rules just to say 'you'! Kudos to everyone who's learning Korean. This is an amazing channel! I'm sharing this with my non-Korean husband (who needs to learn Korean).... Thanks, TTMIK!
@@hootowl905 I know I was just writing as shown in the video because it's my first time seeing it so I will most likely use it that way until I get comfortable enough to build my own with the stem.
As a korean myself, I sometimes struggle to decide what to call someone when I meet them for the first time if it makes you feel any better. Most of the times you don't even need one because it's clear who you re talking about in the context. But yeh that's one of the things I find inconvenient about my native language.
This video was a great, great summary of the various ways to address someone. You can also say 저기요! (which is like "Excuse me!" or "Hey!") when you don't want to use a more specific form of address, e. g., 저기요! 지갑 떨어트렸어요! Excuse me! You dropped your wallet!
This is better than the pinned comment, & I'm Korean. 1.) 당신 - It's a poetic or a romantic way of saying "you" in Korean, it is rarely used in spoken Korean, it may sound rude when you say to someone in person. 2.) 그대 / 그대여 - It's also a poetic and a romantic term, but it's more of an endearment, it's like "My darling" or my "Dear" in English. This is also rarely used if spoken. • 그대여 - Hey my dear / darling. • 그대화 함께 - With you my dear / darling. • 그대에게 - To you my dear / darling. You may use this when writing a love letter. 3.) 너 - A casual (반말) version, if you are closer to person, or if that person is younger than you, or the same age as you then you can say it to that person. 4.) 자네 - Used when an elderly addresses someone who is much younger than them. 5.) 그쪽 - This word literally means "That side" or "Over there" this word can be used in text messages, online chats, also in person but it's not the most polite term of all so just be careful when using it. Also remember it can also literally mean "That side" it's not always referring to a person. 6.) 아저씨 / 아줌마 - You can use these when talking to someone who is obviously a middle-aged person, 아저씨 Is for Males & 아줌마 is for females but be careful when using 아줌마, other middle-aged woman don't like to be called that. • 아저씨는 어디 가세요? • 아저씨는 누구예요? 7.) (이름) + 씨/님 / (Name) + 씨/님 • 케빈씨 - Kevin + 씨 • 케빈씨 지금 뭐하세요? - Kevin what are you doing? • 캐빈 선생님 - Kevin + 선생님 • 케빈 선생님 질문이 있어요 - Teacher Kevin I have a question. • 캘빈 선생님 물어보고 싶어요 - Teacher Kevin I want to ask something. 8.) Social Title + 님 • 사장님 - Business Owner / Shop Owner • 선생님 - Teacher • 의사 선생님 - Doctor Notice there's always a 님 at the end of the word. 9.) Omit the "You" - You can avoid saying "You" • 뭐 드실래요? - What are (you) gonna eat? Literal Translation: What gonna eat? "뭐 먹어요?" Can also be used but it's not very specific who you're referring to when you say that. • 어디에 사세요? / 어디 사세요? - Where do (you) live? Literal Translation: Where live? • 어떤 일 하세요? - What kind of work do (you) do? Literal Translation: What work doing?
그대 is more like "thou" in the sense that you would never ever use it in real life. It's like "Thou art.." and "Thou dost.." The difference is that thou is completely obsolete other than in the bible and old literature while 그대 is very much alive in songs and poems now.
I've been talking with people on hello talk and I always use 당신 because I thought it was more formal than 너. I can't express my thankfulness enough, 쌤들 감사합니다!
I'm always thankful for this kind of videos, because it is complicated. I have a Korean boyfriend, we speak in Korean only so now I just decided to call him 오빠 since he's 3 years older than me BUT at the beginning of our relationship he said that if I address him as ○○씨, then he feels like he's talking to someone from work, so I was really confused, like how should I call him so that we are both comfortable? Sometimes when we meet with his friends (who are obviously older and not really that close to me) I'm having the most awkward times of my life...
There is a honorific/polite version of 오빠: 오라버니 but I've never heard anyone use it. In my experiences, you would just call your boyfriend's friends 오빠 and 언니 - Or (name)-오빠, (name)-언니, at least if you're all young near the same ages, maybe less than 35-40. Some Korean guys can feel a bit uncomfortable about it though because 오빠 feels slightly affectionate, so I'm not sure what you would use in that situation. If you're older than 35-40 then you would probably say (name)-씨 Note: This is based on my personal observations, I'm not Korean so I might be wrong.
This was super helpful. Thank you so much. I have a friend that I address as “언니” and she gave me permission to use 반말. I try not to say “너” but it is so hard 😫😭😂
People cried because there are 10 'you' in Korean. Vietnamese literally has more than 20 depending on gender, the age of the person you are speaking to, the social position of the listeners, the position of you on the family tree (when talking to a relative), and the poetic feelings
In India there are only three ways to say "you". 1. Aap (formal) 2. Tum (informal) 3. Tu (it depends on the situation either you are talking with your close friends or with your enemy 😁)
I had a friend who got really offended cause he was 24 and a high school student called him 아저씨. He was like “I’m not old enough to be an 아저씨! She was only like 5-6 years younger than me!”
5 лет назад
I've just discovered this channel. It seems so useful. Thank you ^^
Coming back to this again and again because I keep making a mess of this! Thank you especially for the clarification on the "-seyeo" conjugation. This is so helpful!!
I'm randa form Yemen Arab country and I've been learning 한국어 language for 3 months by my self at home I wish could talk and write Korean in a short time coz I love these language sooo mach , and your videos are sooo useful and exciting, I like them ... 감사합니다😍😍😍😙😙😙
1. This is very helpful because “you” in Korean is definitely confusing 2. Never thought of 시 suffix as a way to avoid repeating “you”. That’s a great tip. 3. QUESTIONS: - Can/should 시 be used when you refer to a person by their name+씨? - Is it natural to use 시 in some sentences and not use in others? Do you have to stick to it once you’ve started when talking politely to a person?
First, I watched the similar video from 5 years ago and it was mind blowing. And I’m so glad you did a follow up. Both of these vids come at a perfect time during my learning and they taught me so much! 감사합니다!!!
I was so confused when I realised you can't use 당신 in person so I was like, how do I say you politely then? And in the textbook I used that's the only polite you they provide. I'm glad I checked out your channel and found this lesson. It was very helpful, thank you :)
I have a question (not about 'you' tho): so I'm watching a k-drama called 'whats wrong with secretary Kim?' and secretary Kim is the secretary of the vice president in the company. She should obviously talk in a formal way to him (I would even say she should use honorific) But she is always using 3 different speech levels. She is sometimes using honorific, higher level (ex. kamsahamnida) and also the one that ends with 요. so my question is why is she switching between the levels as a secretary? shouldn't she use only the higher level or even honorific?
I like your programs in podcast. Especially the jokes you guys talked in the programs. It helps me to learn Korean more correctly. Thank you so much. 사랑합니다
Hi! I was wondering, I researched about this topic for hours, days, read the opinions of many Korean natives. I could notice these opinions are quite divided. I'm a woman and once in a while I write to a Korean singer which I like and respect (male, older than me with ~5 years). I understood that ~씨 is the polite form to address him, so when I write to him in Korean I always use his first name+씨. Some Koreans told me that's fine, while others told me that I'm being cold and rude and I should call him ~오빠 because he is an entertainer and he is expected to be called that way... That kind of statement bothered me. I also expressed each time that I don't feel comfortable at all to call him (or any other artist) ~오빠 because it's not like we know each other and I want to keep being polite and respectful. However, this has been on my mind a lot in the past days and I've started to feel worried "what if he thinks I'm rude when using hist first name + ~씨?" since he sometimes reads my messages. But I still feel like this is the correct way to address someone in this situation.
Hi Sun Flower! You're right! Addressing someone in '(NAME) + 씨' format can sometimes sound a bit cold, because it's a formal way of addressing someone. '~씨' format is also used in many professional settings, so it may not be the friendliest way to call your favorite artist! You can actually call him '오빠', as in this particular case, it won't come off as rude since you are a fan writing to a musician you like. If you want a compromise of the two, you may want to consider '~님'. It still leans more towards the formal side, but not as cold as '~씨'!
@@talktomeinkorean Thank you for the response, it's very insightful to hear this from your side. I hope I didn't come off as being rude or cold. I still find it difficult to say '오빠', but I will try to adjust in the future and maybe use '~님' if it will be necessary to use his name (or the pronoun you) in a sentence.
@@talktomeinkorean (edited) Thank you for this thoughtful response! In this case, Sun Flower is writing to a musician that is older than themselves, how would we address a younger artist/entertainer? {edit start} I pressed enter too quickly! Apologies. If we lean less toward the compromise "~님" and want to use more endearment, is there an alternative even? I meant to add on that if I understand correctly, "오빠" is used in situations where the man is older. I am still learning so please correct me if I am wrong. Thank you :)
I just started to watch your videos, I find your videos really easy to follow and very easy to understand. Thank you, I will definitely continue watching your lessons💙
Just for information to people, there actually were historical expressions for "you" in polite or formal sentences. "그대" and "당신" were them. However, as time went by, they became archaic or literary (poetic). The reason is still not clear. Unfortunately, their empty seats weren't filled with new or alternative words unlike how "you" in English took the seat of "thou". So, after all, calling someone with "you" politely in Korea is *hard even to native speakers.* This shows a language doesn't always evolve to fit to its native speakers.
I've know you guys from FB for so long, but what took me so long to subscribe to you guys on RU-vid?!?!?! You videos are so much more helpful than learning from reading text books and I was especially grateful for the help in pronounciation because it's true, romanisation does help in real life!
@@myYoyacs it's a common mistake ;) it's easy to repeat what someone asked you and just fill in the blanks. For example, you might hear people learning Korean say: "..에서 오셨어요." When they're asked "어디에서 오셨어요?"
I'm learning lessons from ttmik sometimes and today i just found that you guys have a RU-vid channel too!! It's soo nice I watched a lot of videos already and they helped me a lot already you guys make an amazing job!! Especially you Hyunwoo Sun i don't know why but I understand better from you! (the rest please don't hate me 😭)
*final summary* you: - 나: casual form with friends - 당신: very polite and romantic (used in song or in a married couple) - 그대: very polite and romantic (can be used in a letter) - 자네: used only when an old person is talking to a young person - 그쪽: neutral (usually used to refer to a person that you don't know well) - 아저씨: very formal, when a young person refers to a male older person - 아줌마: very formal, when a young person refers to a female older person - name + 씨 / 님 (more formal) - social title: 선생님 (teacher), 사장님 (president of a business) or the social title + 선생님 as well (ex: 의사 선생님 is better than just 의사) - omit the "you" and just use the honorific form to conjugate a verb. The honorific form is -시 and here's how you conjugate a verb in the honorific form: ex: 작다 (to be small), 크다 (to be big) 1. you remove 다 final result: 작, 크 2. you add (으)시. 으시 is added if there is a final consonant (받침, batchim) in the verb (ex: 작다). 시 is added if there isn't a final consonant in the verb (ex: 크다). final result: 작으시, 크시 3. now you have two options depenfing on how much more formal you want to be (consider that using 시 is already very formal by itself): 시 - - > 세요 (very formal) 시 - - > 십니다 (very very formal) final result: 작으세요, 크세요 작으십니다, 크십니다 (for the honorific questions, you can: a. use 세요 and raise your tone of voice b. use 십니까, the "question form" of 십니다 final result: 작으십니까, 크십니까) I tryed to sum everything up. Hope that helps :)
wahhh i didnt really know about what haseyo means like I just knew that its means to do in formal. I just knew that 하 is from 하다 and 요 is for formal use but in most of the sentences there are words like 네요 /세요 so today in this video i got to know about this. 감사함니다 for increasing my knowledge.
I watched He Is Psychometric, and there is a scene between the kidnapper and person who was kidnapped... They used 당신 with each other... It was pretty jarring to hear it since I keep hearing this isn't used outside of romantic contexts... Would this be an example of it used rudely? The characters still seemed like they were using 존댓말 otherwise...
knittingarch I know. I’m starting to hear that word being used a lot more often an personally it’s all about the context. Of coarse two characters in a serious situation are most likely using 당신 in a rude manner. The way I like to think about it is if this person would be saying f you or love you in this situation.
'당신" it's not 반말. It is simply ( as we understand it ) a very intimate (as in "close") way to address each other implying that two people are completely open to each other.....therefore if some 'stranger" uses it it's like saying "i have no respect for your personal space and I'm going to step allover it!!!
OMG, I finally got the answers. I heard 그대 in every korean song I listened to, and in korean drama "The King: Eternal Monarch", Lee Minho always call others 자네. I've been curious why they use those words😅😂
For next lesson can u pls explain why 막내 is pronounced as 망내? And also other Korean letters in pairs that are pronounced differently please? Thank you for this video , it was really helpful!
That's consonant assimilation, you can look up for a video on this topic. The comment is 3 years old, you may have figured it out by now. In case you haven't, here's the answer. 🙂
i have heard 당신 in advertisements, too. but i'm supposing since it's directed to a general 'you' and not directly to one specific person then that is why.
Bruh! I'm so glad for this! My textbook that I've been using has been telling me to use 당신. Oof. Now I feel so cringey. Thank you TTMIK for this. I needed this...oof
Thanks for the video😃 Btw can you make another video about 걔가 and 쟤가 referring to he/she and how common they are or whether they're casual or formal? Also I'm a bit confused about when it's supposed to use 저 instead of 우리
걔가/쟤가 are both super casual - 그분/저분 would be the formal version. 저 is the polite version of 나, meaning "I" or "me" 우리 means "we" or "us" - The polite version is 저희
@@kimia7807 1) Not sure about that, can't explain it without an example. 2) They are respectively short for 그 애 and 저 애. 저 is used for 'that' compared to 'this' - "that person over there". 그 is used when something has already been mentioned. "I went to a restaurant called "_____" - Oh, *that* place is great" So 쟤가 is used for "that person"/"he"/"she - in situations where you can see them, and they're not next to you (in that case you would use 얘가) 걔가 is used when someone has already mentioned a person and you want to say "that person"/"he"/"she" something.
In the song 그러지 마 by eAeon ft RM, it starts a lot of sentences with 그대, I think now I can understand better why, it was hard to understand it from the translation of the lyrics I think is so romantic that the Korean language has so many words exclusively use in poems. In spanish we only have tu, usted, vos, but one is way too formal and other is only used in some countries
당신 is sometimes used in third person. but people don't use often these days. example) 우리 할머니는 당신께서 젊었을 때 굉장한 미인이셨다고 하셨다. My grandma said that she was a great beauty when she was young.
Me.. learning...jeonun. Also me...I'm good I'll learn korean easily Very next day discover 2 videos..out of which one says 325 ways to say hii in korean..and other 10 ways to say you Me-u r not even beginner..my dear Korean language- try me 💅
I met a Korean woman 2 months ago. We were talking and everything was going well till the time i wanted to ask "And you?" Then i stopped as if my brain was not working anymore. I knew every YOU I knew was going to sound rude so... yep Korean the language where you can have a conversation but you cannot say you lol XD
