-- korean vocabulary, verb endings, forum, study links, grammar explanations, dictionary

grammar reference home / Parts of Speech

modes of address -- what is your person title

# Posted: 24 May 2007 21:35 KST - Edited by: _joseph_
... Re-Sideview ...

당신이 모르는 사람들 the people you do not know
When asking for the identity 신분 of a person we have the following questions to ask?
a thread on 씨 and 님. That thread was the start of this one.
There are two reasons for looking at this long list of what to call people.
First:

한국말에서는 누구를 부를 때, 이름이나 직위만 부르지 않아요.
In Korea, when we call somebody, we do not just call them by their name or worker (직원).

Second:

In spoken Korean, he~she or his~her are rarely (almost never) used. Instead, his/her name is addressed as a subject in a first sentence, and then omitted for sentences following. This is the same for possessive forms. Instead of his/her, use the name of the person

from http://parksguide.blogspot.com/2006/12/possessive-forms.html

just people

친구 friend
아는 사람 an acquaintance
어린이 a kid, a child
여러분 ... means you in the crowd, hey, crowd, hello y&39;all
얘 : a kid, somebody lots younger than you.
직원 an office worker, just another suit
그들 is just the normal word for they.
지네 this can mean you.
사내 is a man, a manly man-man. (that&39;s what the dictionary says, really: a he-man, a man&39;s man, a manly man)

자네들은 더 놀아. you play some more.

아줌마 -- but remember 아줌마 is not really a polite word. It`s better to say 분 as a term of respect. Especially if your married female friend is next to you.
Also, it is not spelled 아주마
분 is a respectful word for person. 사람 is a little derogatory, so use 분 when talking about your friend, especially if a full adult.

강아지 필요한분 가져 가세요 ! 공짜 !
it`s free to whoever 분 needs a dog.
아저씨
아가씨
선배(senior in a school, university, or in workplace)아저씨(older males in general)

friendly terms

가령, 영어에서는 Jack하고 부르지만 한국말에서는 Jack아 Jack씨..
we call them not Jack but rather Jack아 and Jack씨

some more examples are:

은정아

Addressing friend`s name

When a person is addressed 아/야 is attached to their name. If my name were 진우[Jin-u], my friend would call me, 진우야! [Jin-u-ya]. This is like Hey 진우/Jin-u!

This colloquialism should only be used between close friends. This is an informal expression. At school, friends call each other this way, and teachers to students but not vice versa.

Note that 야 is used for names without a final consonant and 아 for names with a final consonant.

Eg.

진욱 → 진욱아!

This is pronounced [지누가:Ji-nu-ga] since ㅇ has no sound when used as an initial consonant.

진우 → 진우야!

It is pronounced [지누야:Ji-nu-ya]

영희 → 영희야!
철수 → 철수야!
경일 → 경일아!

So when you call your Korean friend`s name, just add 아/야 to their name.

respectful terms with 님

붓다 is often called 부처님

고객님 ... customer
선생님 .... teacher
어머님 (mother)
아버님 (north Korean for Mother)
선생님(teacher)
교수님(professor)
사장님(president of a company)
오라버님
누님 ... older sister
형님... older brother
사장님 .... boss

형님뉴스

family

어머니 mother
아버지 father
형(elder brother, used for any male a few years older than you, and it’s used only by men)
형 older brother
오빠(same as 형, but used by women)
언니(elder sister, used for any female a few years older than you, and it’s used only by women)
누나(same as 언니, but used by men)
할아버지(literally “grandfather”, but used for any old men.)
할머니(literally “grandmother”, but used for any old women.)
아들 son
우리 아들 son
우리 남편 husband
우리 딸 daughter
우리 해미 (your daughter`s name is 해미 and this is how you talk about her)
식구들 is another word for family
얘들 means children and it is used to refer to them .
자녀 is a nice way to refer to somebody`s children. It`s better than 자식 which is half swear word and not polite. Better to call them 자녀. I have seen this in the paper many times referring to people`s children.
누이 is a younger sister
누나 is an older sister

우리 명박이 ... 이 is a friendly name calling. Yes, his family called him 명박이.

Now, when you talk about your family name, when somebody asks you what your last name is, there is a special way to announce it. The following is how it is taught in elementary school:

Teacher: 자. 어른이 성을 물어 보면 김가입니다. 박가입니다라고 대답하는 것이 옳습니다. 씨라는 것은 높임말입니다. 그러니 김씨입니다라고 하면 어른 앞에서 자기를 높이는 말이 되니까 틀린 거예요.

That says you do not refer to yourself as lastname+씨 because that`s a respectful word for yourself, so atleast for the kids that`s not allowed ... the babies are not allowed to say 한씨입니다 but I`ll still say 조셉씨 because I am a foreigner, right?

욕 -- talking about the bad apples

개새끼
시발놈아
~놈 in general is a derogative word for referring to people
e.g. 이 중놈아 .... this bad monk.
You make me want to puke 진짜 토나와
HOLY SHIT God what the FUCK you`re such a disgusting bitch 아~~ 진짜 씨빨 존나 토나와 개새끼

previous topic ::: next topic