13.2. Honorifics: Nouns and Particles
When you are talking in Korean about someone who has relatively high social status–a government official, a foreign guest, a minister, a teacher–you use some special forms called HONORIFICS. Remember that when you are talking to someone of high status, you use either the polite style or the formal style, depending on which endings you put on the verbs at the end of sentences. Honorifics are also used frequently to refer to the second person; this is a way of honoring your listener, as well as showing that you mean you without actually using a pronoun. There are several kinds of honorifics.
Some English nouns are translated by two different Korean nouns, one neutral and the other honorific:
집house, home 댁esteemed house or home나이(years of) age 연세age of someone esteemed사람person 분an esteemed person밥cooked rice 진지same, for an esteemed person아이children자녀분same, for an esteemed person 자제분same, for an esteemed person
Some kinship terms also have separate honorific forms; see section 13.3 below for this.13.2.2. ParticlesThe particle 께: Honorific 에게/한테
The particle 께 is honorific; it means the same thing as 에게 and 한테–to [a person]–but is used only after nouns denoting a specially honored person:
아버님께 to [esteemed] father
The particle 께서(는): Honorific 이/가
The combination 께서 marks as subject an esteemed person, and is the honorific equivalent to the two-shape subject particle 이/가:
- 선생님께서 오셨어요.
The [esteemed] teacher came.
The HONORIFIC SUBJECT marker 께서 can be used either alone or followed by the topic particle 는:
- 아버님께서는 무엇을 하세요?
What does your father do?
The honorific particle 께서 is used only for persons. Here are some examples of 께 and 께서(는):
- 할머님께 편지를 썼습니다.
I wrote Grandmother a letter. - 교수님께서 저한테 부탁하셨어요.
My professor asked a favor of me. - 할아버지께서 자동차가 없으세요?
Doesn’t your grandfather have a car? - 아버님께서 댁에 안 계세요?
Isn’t your father at home? - 사장님께 연락했습니까?
Did you get in touch with the company president?