How To Make Commands & Requests Using: (으)세요, 아/어 주다, & -지 마세요
V + (으)세요 = Please (verb)
- to politely request, suggest something, or make a command
- can also be used to end a question to make the question more polite. (Requesting info)
- Ex: 영어 하세요? = can you speak English?
- 세요 is a shortened version of -셔요, which comes from the suffix -시. -시 is used to make verbs and adjectives more polite
- (으)십시요 is the same thing as -(으)세요, but is a very formal way of giving commands.
거기 앉으세요 - Please sit there.
Since there is a test tomorrow, please study hard.
물 더 주세요 - Please give me more water
아/어 주다 - Give; To do something for someone
- 주다 on it’s own means “to give”
- By adding ~아/어 주다 to the stem of a word, you can imply that the action is somehow beneficial to you (or whoever the action is being done for)
- It’s almost as if you’re telling someone to do you a “favor” and do it for you
- Conjugate the first verb before adding 주다
- Usually (으)세요 is added to make your request more polite
> 아/어 주세요 = Please do for me
Please open the window. (For me)
The teacher explained it to me.
아/어 주다 + negative situations
- 지 말다 is used when telling somebody *not* to do somthing.
- you can put ~아/어 주다 and ~지 말다 together to create the meaning of “please don’t do it for me”
Please don’t sleep in my class.
Please don’t stare at me.
- this is a form of 지 말다, except it’s a different meaning than we just learned
- 지 마 means you are commanding someone not to do something (not for you, but just in general)
- 지 마 + 세요 = polite command
너무 빨리 먹지 마세요 - Don’t eat your food too fast
슬퍼하지 마세요 - Please don’t be sad
Which book are you reading?
Please have it done by tomorrow.
Please be more careful in future.
Please don't mix the salad and the dressing.
If you’re sick, please don’t talk a lot.
Please don’t ride the elevator, but go up the stairs. (Instead)
Please don’t take pictures inside of the museum.
That's all for this lesson! If you are an intermediate learner looking for grammar lessons, you should check here!
