This time we focussed on understanding the Korean honorifics system.
I learned that if we take a verb in its standard form and either add suffix -아요 to it if it ends with vowels ㅗ or ㅏ, or add suffix -어요 to it if it doesn’t end with these vowels, it results in a conjugation of the verb that can be used in polite informal speech. For example, the verb 보다 (bhoda, meaning to see) would be 보다 + -아요 = 봐요 in informal polite speech.
If we take a verb in its standard form and either add suffix -습니다 to it if it ends in a vowel, or add suffix -읍니다 to it if it ends in a consonant, it results in a conjugation of the verb that can be used in polite formal speech to formally declare the topic of the sentence to the listener. For example, the verb 보다 would become 보다 + -습니다 = 보십니다.
If we take a verb in its standard form and either add infix - 으시- it if it ends in a vowel, or add infix -시- to it if it ends in a consonant, it results in a conjugation of the verb that can be used in polite formal speech to emphasize on respect for the subject of the sentence. For example, the verb 보다 would become 보다 + -시- = 보시다.
If we take a verb in its standard form and add various combinations of the above endings to it to form another conjugation, it can increase the degree of respect and/or politeness implied by using that conjugation in speech. For example, the verb 보다 can become 보다 + -시- + 어요 = 보세요 which implies a higher degree of respect than 봐요 and 보시다.
I also learned that if I want to refer to someone respectfully then I can either add the prefix 씨- or add the suffix -님.
Korea has a very complicated honorifics system. This system has a lot of different terms for addressing someone respectfully, and there also exist multi-tiered speech levels which communicate different degrees of respect. This was relatively a little easier for me to wrap my head around because both Telugu and Hindi have honorific systems similar to that of Korean; however, Korean’s honorifics system is a lot broader so learning it and remembering it is much tougher. I am aware that it is extremely important to learn this though because in Korean culture there is a clear hierarchy where people older than oneself, people holding a higher social rank than oneself, and people working in more reputable professions than oneself are clearly meant to be held in higher honor than oneself. This hierarchy is held in very high regard and it is frowned upon when people don’t follow it while interacting with others. Hence, to make sure that I fully embrace Korean culture and definitely do not offend anyone I will dedicate my time and energy to learning this.
Just for fun: I watch a lot of BTS videos so when we started talking about honorifics in class I remembered a scene (shots included below) from one of their videos when one of the members addresses one of the older members without using honorifics.
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