Useful sentence endings— ~고요, ~군요, ~나요, ~네요, ~더라고요, ~지요
We have already looked at the main formality levels—하십시오체, 해요체, and 해체—and how to end our sentences with them. There are other endings that we can use as well to add extra emotions or nuances to our speech. Today, we’ll take a look at a few common sentence endings.
~고(요)
Our first sentence ending is when you want to add more information sort of like an afterthought. It is the same ~고 that you would see in the middle of a sentence to connect two ideas. For example:
케이크를 먹고 아이스크림도 먹었어요. (I ate cake, and I ate ice cream too.)
Now, we can break this sentence down into two and give it a different feeling with -고 to end our sentence.
케이크를 먹었어요. 아이스크림도 먹었고요. (I ate cake. I ate ice cream, too.)
When written this way, the eating of the ice cream seems like a sort of afterthought or just additional information to eating cake. In the first example, both of the actions, eating cake and eating ice cream, have equal weight.
We can also use sentence-final ~고 to add on to something that someone else already said. For example:
A: 집 청소를 했어? (Did you clean the house?)
B: 응, 빨래도 다 했고. (Yes, and I did all the laundry too.)
~군(요)/구나
This sentence ending is used to express that the speaker learned something new. In 해요체 you can use ~군요 and in 해체 you can use ~군 or ~구나. In English, we might express a similar meaning with a thoughtful “Oh…” at the start of the sentence.
A: 전 요즘 일도 하고 대학원도 다녀요. (Lately I both work and attend grad school.)
B: 많이 바쁘시군요! (Oh, you’re really busy!)
~나(요)
This one is a question ending! It has a nuance of polite curiosity and closeness.
선생님: 숙제를 했나? (Teacher: Did you do your homework?)
아이: 네, 했어요! (Child: Yes, I did!)
어디서 오셨나요? (Where are you from?)
~네(요)
This form is sort of similar to ~군요 except that it has more of a feeling of surprise. It can be positive or negative surprise; both are fine.
원경 씨의 남자 친구는 정말 잘생겼네요! (Wongyeong’s boyfriend is really good-looking!)
오, 이게 맛있네. (Oh, this is delicious.)
표지만 보면 이 책이 재미있어 보이는데 읽고 보니 별로네요. (Just looking at the cover this book seems interesting, but having read it, it’s not that good.)
~더라(고요)
This sentence ending, ~더라고요 (해요체) or ~더라 (해체), is used to recollect or recount something that you personally experienced.
잠깐 나가 봤는데 날씨는 춥더라고요. (I went outside for just a minute; it’s cold out.)
TOEIC 시험을 보려고? 11월에 그 시험을 봤는데 정말 어렵더라… (You plan to take the TOEIC exam? I took it in November; it’s really hard…)
~지(요)
Our last sentence ending of the day is ~지(요)! Often shortened to 죠 when used in 해요체, this one is for confirmation of a fact. It can also be used as a tag question or for emphasis, like saying “… , right?” in English.
A: 내가 부탁한 거 가져왔어? (Did you bring the thing I asked you for?)
B: 응, 가졌지! (Yes, of course I brought it!)
Another example:
그 고양이가 귀엽죠? (That cat is cute, right?)
As always, happy studying~
