Phrases(ko)

Speech Level

Korean has 7 speech levels.

Don't let it scare you away!

Now that that fact has sunk in a little, let me alleviate your fears. Only 4 of the levels are common in daily speech today. You only hear some of the others among the older generation or in historical movies/dramas.

Unlike in some languages where different speech levels use different words, Korean speech levels mainly just affect the endings of the verbs and the pronouns that go along with them.

We'll introduce each level in due time. For now we're using 합쇼체, one of the most common levels. This is what you'd use talking to a stranger, when doing public speaking, among coworkers, to a teacher, and to customers/clients. In some dialects, including some popular in North Korea, this form is even common in more casual conversation, especially among men.

Throughout these Tips&Notes, we usually talk about verbs in the infinitive, which always ends with ~다. Everything that comes before ~다 is the verb stem.

More on this form in Verbs 1.

Chinese Loanwords

Korean, like most languages in East Asia, has a lot of loanwords from Chinese.

Chinese loanwords, Sino-Korean, are very pervasive. They make up about half of the Korean vocabulary. However, similar to the overwhelming amount of Latin/French based vocabulary in English, many of these words are uniquely Korean, either because of a change in meaning or because two Chinese roots were put together to make a new Korean word.

Unlike in Japanese, where one Chinese character (한자) may have multiple pronunciations, in Korean it is more standardized. Each 한자 usually has one pronunciation and the conversions between Chinese and Korean follow a logical system. If you speak some Chinese, you may soon be able to guess the meanings of some Korean words.

안녕 for example, comes from ānníng, with 안녕하세요 meaning "be safe!" 안 has kept the Chinese pronunciation while 녕 has slightly changed. Most borrowings that include pinyin -ing have become 영.

It should be noted that most of these words were initially borrowed hundreds of years ago, so they don't match Mandarin pronunciation 100%. Sometimes the Korean is closer to Cantonese or Shanghainese.

Phrases

Most pleasantries (hello, thank you, excuse me, etc) in Korean are a single word. You don't need to form a whole sentence when the listener knows what you mean, and so often just the verb is used

Thank You

A few words on thank you. We have two versions here in Phrases 1, 고맙다 and 감사하다.

In most cases, the two are interchangeable. When there is a difference, 감사하다, a Sino-Korean word, has a more formal connotation and is used more in public speaking (with notable exceptions including the news) while 고맙다, a native Korean word, is less formal. In the speech level we're using now that's not an issue, but when you drop to a lower level 고맙다 often takes precedence.

Also 감사하다 literally means "to thank," while 고맙다 is "to be thankful," so that can also lead to some differences in usage.

Sorry and Excuse Me

죄송하다 is a more formal form of apology. We'll introduce the other form later on in the course when we get to the next speech level.

실례하다 is the word you'd use if you're trying to get past someone on a crowded subway or if you bump into someone. 실례합니다 literally means "I am being rude," so in other situations there are other alternatives that we will be teaching later on. 실례합니다. 죄송합니다. Excuse me. I'm sorry.

Nice to Meet You

Nice to meet you, 만나서 반갑습니다, is a set phrase that literally means "Glad to have met."

Colloquial

안녕하세요 (hello)

안녕하십니까? (hello?)

안녕/안녕하십니까 (Hi!)

환영합니다! (welcome)

멋있습니다! (It is awesome / Cool!)

고마워 / 고맙습니다 / 감사합니다 ! (Thanks)

실례합니다 (Excuse me)

{저는}미안합니다. / 죄송합니다! / . (I'm Sorry)

처음 뵙겠습니다!, 만나서 반갑습니다! (Nice to meet you! )

괜찮아 / 괜찮습니다. ( I'm okay. )