Two considerations are significant in the Korean speech styles:
- When talking to a person:
Words have different endings attached to them, determined by the social relationship between the speakers. - When talking about a person:
Words and parts of words are changed to their HONORIFIC form to show special respect to the person discussed. Honorific forms are never used by the speaker to refer to himself or herself.
Most of the Basic Expressions of this lesson are in the HONORIFIC POLITE (하세요 = haseyo) style, but a few of the more stylized greetings and expressions are in the FORMAL (합니다 = hamnida) style. Most of the Korean you will learn in this course will be in the POLITE (해요 = hæyo), HONORIFIC POLITE (하세요 = haseyo), FORMAL (합니다 = hamnida) or HONORIFIC FORMAL (하십니다= hasimnida) styles, the most useful styles for everyday conversation.