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politeness levels - polite speech

# Posted: 5 Jul 2009 00:06 KST - Edited by: _joseph_
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polite Speech 존대말
There are three kinds of polite speech:

ㅂ니다. .... 합쇼체 .... is more formal, and is used in the military, for example, where there is a strict heirarchy. Korean men usually use this expression because of their having been in the military, so using this will increase the manliness of your speech, guys~
ㅂ니다 and ㅂ니까 are very, very formal. These are used in job interviews, talking to your boss or upper co-worker, and military settings. It indicates 100% obedience and following. It‘s easy to overruse because it`s in the Korean tourist guides. That`s because explaining #1 and #2 above is too difficult for people who know absolutely no verbs, they can`t remember how to use those forms properly.

That being said, I can see its use a lot more by men than by women, when they are speaknig with authority and trying to appear manly. It gives the impression of cold virtue (I don`t know how else to express it).
어/아요 ..... 요 is technically called 해요체. It is added for everybody except your friends, and it can take a long time to make friends with your co-workers. Adding the 요 does a good job, it`s enough formality to use the 요 impolite formal in daily life. They are polite, after all. Just not extremely polite. They are used generally more widely than the ㅂ니다 endings. forms.

어/아 요 ... to speak plainly and not overly formerly yet be polite

네, 선생님. 공부할게요. yes, teacher, I will study

The following examples, which is just adding the 요 form to 어/아 to make it polite, are from parksguide which is using the creative license.

Just add 요 at the end of a sentence.

Formal Spoken Form

Present

Past

Positive

먹어요

먹었어요

Negative

먹지 않아요
안 먹어요

먹지 않았어요
안 먹었어요
- 가다 → 가요 (go)
- 서다 → 서요 (stand)
- 사다 → 사요 (buy)
- 자라다 → 자라요 (grow)
- 하다 → 해요 (do)
- 원하다→ 원해요 (want)
- 구하다 → 구해요 (save)
- 앉다 → 앉아요 (sit)
- 먹다 → 먹어요 (eat)
-(으)오. This is called 하오체.
Used by people over 30 who say 나 instead of 저 when they speak.
Endings include: ㅂ시다 (Let`s), (으)오 (descriptive and question sentences) and 구려 . The word they use for you is 당신.
source: 가나다 고급 2

EXAMPLES

하지 마시오

The above is included just for purposes of completion, as it is a rarely if ever used form.

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