firstly, what are honorifics?
honorifics play an extremely important role in korean - depending on who you’re talking to, sentences are conjugated differently. this is dependent on age and closeness of the person you are talking to. when you’re talking to anyone that is younger than you/close to you, you can talk to them informally, therefore all sentences will be conjugated informally. when talking to people that are older than you (and therefore deserves respect), you must speak to them formally. therefore, all sentences will be conjugated formally. there are two levels to this, but in this lesson, i’ll only be briefly covering informal low respect (for people you’re close to/younger than you) and informal high respect (for people who are older than you/not as close to you). note: despite it being “informal”, the informal high respect conjugation can be used widely with most people, including strangers that are older than you!
before we dive into conjugation, here are some quick notes!
when speaking informally, you will refer to “me/i” as 나. when speaking formally, you refer to “me/i” as 저, and 요 is added to the end of your sentence to make it more formal. got it? let’s move onto conjugation!
if the last vowel in a word stem is ㅏ or ㅗ, 았 is used to conjugate to the past tense.
if the last vowel in a word stem is anything butㅏ or ㅗ , 었 is used to conjugate to the past tense.
say we’re conjugating the word 먹다 (to eat). the word stem here is 먹 and the last vowel in the word stem is ㅓ, therefore 었어(요) is used to conjugate to the past tense:
> 저는 빵을 먹었어요 (i ate bread)
저 is used, therefore sentence must be conjugated formally. as a result, 요 is used at the end
> 나는 빵을 먹었어 (i ate bread)
나 is used, therefore the sentence is informal. as a result, 요 is not added to the end of the sentence
say we want to conjugate the word 자다 (to sleep). the word stem is 자, and the last vowel in the stem is ㅏ. therefore, 았아(요) is used to conjugate to the past tense!
> 저는 잤어요 (i slept)
저 is used, therefore the sentence must be conjugated formally. as a result, 요 is added to the end of the sentence
> 나는 잤어 (i slept)
나 is used, therefore the sentence is informal. as a result, 요 is not added to the end of the sentence
if the last vowel in the word stem is ㅏ or ㅗ, 아(요) is used to conjugate to the present tense.
if the last vowel in the word stem is anything other than ㅏ or ㅗ, 어(요) is used to conjugate to the present tense.
imagine we want to conjugate 읽다 (to read). the last vowel in the word stem, 읽, is ㅣ. this is not ㅏ or ㅗ, therefore 어(요) is used to conjugate to the present tense.
> 저는 읽어요 (i read)
again, 저 is used, therefore 요 is added to the end of the sentence to make it formal.
here’s another example featuring the verb 공부하다 (to study). the last vowel in the word stem, 공부하, is ㅏ, therefore 아(요) is used to conjugate to the present tense. because the last letter in the stem is a vowel, the 아 merges with 하 to form 해. (you can read more about this on howtostudykorean.com, lesson 5!)
> 저는 한국어를 공부해요 (i study korean)
> 나는 한국어를 공부해 (i study korean)
there are two main ways of conjugating to the future tense:
by adding 겠어(요) to the end of the word stem
by adding ㄹ/을 거예(요) to the end of the word stem
they both translate to show that you will do/will be something, but the first method has a slightly different nuance from the second usage. this is because it implies a sense of determination.
here’s an example featuring 가다 (to go)
가다 + 겠어(요) = 가겠어(요)
> 저는 중국에 가겠어요 (i will go to china)
here’s another example featuring 만나다 (to meet)
만나다 + 겠어(요) = 만나겠어(요)
> 나는 엑소를 만나겠어 (i will meet exo)
the second way of conjugating to the future tense, as previously stated, is by adding ㄹ/을 거예요 to the end of the word stem. unlike the first usage, there is no implication of determination - it’s simply just a way of conjugating to the future tense.
ㄹ is added when the last letter in a word stem is a vowel
을 is added when the last letter in a word stem is a consonant
here’s an example featuring 억다 (to eat). the last letter in the word stem is ㄱ, therefore 을 거예요 is used!
> 자는 비빔밥을 먹을 거예요 (i will eat bibimbap)
here’s another example featuring 공부하다 (to study). the last letter in the word stem is ㅏ, therefore ㄹ 거예요( is used!
> 저는 한국어를 공부할 거예요 (i will study korean)
easy, right? if you need more help, please don’t hesitate to message me, or look at howtostudykorean.com (which is where these lessons are adapted from) for further explanation!
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