Korean honorifics

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The age difference between two speakers affects whether or not to use honorifics. Korean speakers in South Korea and North Korea—except in very intimate situations—use different honorifics depending on whether the other person's year of birth is one year or more older, or the same year, or one year or more younger. No matter how close the relationship is to the point where honorifics are not used, if the year of birth is not the same, the hierarchy is determined as hyeong (형), oppa (오빠) (both meaning 'elder brother'), nuna (누나), eonni (언니) (both meaning 'elder sister'), and dongsaeng (동생; 'younger sibling'), all of which are not regarded as mutual friends. However, some Koreans feel that it is unreasonable to distinguish between the use of honorifics based on a small age difference and try to distinguish between the use of honorifics based on intimacy within a small age difference. Also, regardless of whether or not honorifics are used, if the year of birth is more than a year apart, no matter how close people are, Korean people do not think of each other as friends. Until the Joseon-era and unlike today, age was not considered as severe in Korea, thus it was a culture of making friends within a small age gap.^{[dubious – discuss][original research?]}

The current age hierarchy customs of current South and North Korea are influenced by the Japanese colonial occupation era. The current age hierarchy customs of South Korea are greatly influenced by the period when Park Chung-hee, who served in the military of Manchukuo, a puppet state of the Empire of Japan, led the military dictatorship in South Korea.

Before 1945, Japan operated its military and schools under a strict hierarchy, and the ranking based on age and seniority was more strict than it is now. These elements of the Japanese military system had a great influence on South and North Korean society. After Japan was defeated in 1945, this culture of arrangement was greatly weakened in Japanese society due to the disbandment of the Japanese military and the establishment of a civilian government, but in South Korea and North Korea, elements of the Japanese military permeated every corner of the society due to the influence of the dictatorship. Therefore, unlike other countries, it is common in South and North Korea to frequently ask people about their age.^[2] Many remnants of the age hierarchy system remain.^[3][4]

The Korean language can index deference or respect toward a sentence referent in subject or dative position through the application of lexical choices such as honorific particles.^[5][6]

There is no honorific expression for inanimate -에 (-e). The honorific version of 에게 (-ege) is 께 (-kke).^[7]

For example,  while -선생님- (-seonsaengnim-) 'teacher' is neutral and -선생님이- (-seonsaengnimi-) denotes the role of the noun as the subject of the sentence, -선생님께서- (-seonsaengnimkkeseo-) still means 'teacher', but it indicates that the sentence in which it occurs is an honorific sentence and the speaker is treating the subject, -선생님- (-seonsaengnim-), courteously.

In Korean, the honorific form of first person pronouns are humble forms, which speakers use to refer to themselves with humble pronouns and humble verb forms to make themselves lower.^[6]

Second person pronouns do not appear in honorific conversation and professional titles and kinship terms are used instead, a phenomenon known as pronoun avoidance.^[8] The most common terms of address are kinship terms, which are divided into plain and honorific levels.^[6][5]

The honorific suffix -님 (-nim) is affixed to many kinship terms to make them honorific. Thus, someone may address his own grandmother as 할머니 (halmeoni) but refer to someone else's grandmother as 할머님 (halmeonim).^[9]

Unlike the Japanese language, which allows a title to be used alone for addressing people when an honorific expression is required (e.g., 先生 sensei 'teacher', 社長 shachō '[company] president', 教授 kyōju 'professor'), Korean does not allow lone titles for addressing people. It is impolite to address someone as 사장 (sajang) 'president' or 교수 (gyosu) 'professor' without a suffix such as the honorific suffix -님 (-nim)—except when addressing social equals or those lower in status.^[10]

Addressee honorification (Korean: 상대 높임법, romanized: sangdae nopimbeop) refers to the way the speaker uses honorifics towards the listener. It is the most developed honorification in Korean, which is mainly realized by the closing expression, which is then largely divided into formal and informal forms, and categorised into six stages according to the degree of honorific. ^[11]

Formal forms include:

• the hasipsio (하십시오) form, which is the most polite form;
• the hao (하오) form, which is moderately addressee-raising;
• the hage (하게) form, which is moderately addressee-lowering;
• the haera (해라) form, which is the most non-polite form.

Informal forms include:

• the haeyo (해요) form, which is the informal addressee-raising form;
• the hae (해) form, which is the informal addressee-lowering form.

For example, the sentence "Read this book." can be written differently by using different closing expressions, such as:^[12]

• 이 책을 읽으십시오. (I chaegeul ilgeusipsio.), which uses the hasipsio form;
• 이 책을 읽으시오. (I chaegeul ilgeusio.), which uses the hao form;
• 이 책을 읽게. (I chaegeul ilgge.), which uses the hage form;
• 이 책을 읽어라. (I chaegeul ilgeora.), which uses the haera form;
• 이 책을 읽어요. (I chaegeul ilgeoyo.), which uses the haeyo form;
• 이 책을 읽어. (I chaegeul ilgeo.), which uses the hae form.

One must use honorific endings -습니다 -seumnida and/or -(에)요 -eyo in a formal situation or when addressing acquaintances or strangers, regardless of their age or social status (except pre-adolescent children). The following are honorific endings for the four major types of sentences:

• Declarative -습니다 (-seumnida),
• Interrogative -십니까 (-seumnikka),
• Propositive -습시다 (-seupsida),
• Imperative -시요/-십시오 (-siyo/-sipsio).

However, in informal situations such as speaking to close friends or family members, these honorific endings are usually dropped and substituted with -어 (-eo) or -아 (-a).

The setting, ages, occupations, and other factors contribute to the relations between speaker, addressee, and the referent within this system. Traditionally the Korean honorifics were based on hierarchical relation in society, such as rank in occupations, but this has changed over time to develop into a system based on politeness and closeness. Hierarchical based honorific endings are forgone with relationships such as one between older and younger sibling in which the younger sibling uses the -어/-아 endings in place of -어요/-아요 without change in respect, instead, exhibiting closeness in the relationship. Furthermore, the use of jondaen mal (존댓말)—or honorific language—towards someone who is perceived as close can be perceived as socially awkward or emotionally distant (or in other contexts, playful or sarcastic); whereas, the use of pan mal (반말)—or crude language—towards one who is a stranger or acquaintance would be perceived as rude.^[13]

When the subject of the conversation is older or has higher seniority than the speaker, the Korean honorific system primarily index the subject by adding the honorific suffix -시 (-si) or -으시 (-eusi) into the stem verb.^[10]

Thus, 가다 (gada; 'to go') becomes 가시다 (gasida). A few verbs have suppletive honorific forms:

A few verbs have suppletive humble forms, used when the speaker is referring to themself in polite situations. These include 드리다 (deurida) and 올리다 (ollida) for 주다 (juda; 'to give'). 드리다 (deurida) is substituted for 주다 (juda) when the latter is used as an auxiliary verb, while 올리다 (ollida; 'to raise up') is used for 주다 (juda) in the sense of 'to offer'.

Korean pronouns have their own set of polite equivalents; for instance, 저 (jeo) is the humble form of 나 (na) for the first-person singular pronoun 'I', and 저희 (jeohui) is the humble form of 우리 (uri) for the first-person plural pronoun 'we'. However, Korean allows for coherent syntax without pronouns, effectively making Korean a so-called pro-drop language; thus, Koreans avoid using the second-person singular pronoun, especially when using honorific forms. Third-person pronouns are occasionally avoided as well, mainly to maintain a sense of politeness. Although the honorific form of the second-person singular pronoun 너 (neo) is 당신 (dangsin; lit. 'friend, dear'), this term is used only as a form of address in a few specific social contexts, such as between people who are married to each other, or in an ironic sense between strangers. Other words are usually substituted where possible; e.g., the person's name, a kinship term, a professional title, the plural 여러분 yeoreobun, or no word at all, relying on context to supply meaning instead).

The National Institute of Korean Language classifies nim/ssi/gun/yang as dependent nouns that follow a proper noun, and they prescribe that a space should appear between a noun and its dependent noun (e.g., (재범 님 jaebeom nim). This is not to be confused with the affix -nim, used with common nouns, since affixes are written without spaces (e.g., 선생님 seonsaengnim).

Korean has the vocative case markers which grammatically identify a person, animal, or object being addressed so that they eliminate possible grammatical ambiguities. -a or -ya (-아/-야) is a casual title used at the end of names, and is not gender exclusive. If a name ends in a consonant, -a is used (e.g., 진영아 jinyoung-a), while -ya is used if the name ends in a vowel (e.g., 예지야 yeji-ya). -a/-ya is used only between close friends and people who are familiar with each other, and its use between strangers or distant acquaintances could be considered extremely rude. -a/-ya is only used hierarchically horizontally or downwards: an adult or parent may use it for young children, and those with equal social standing may use it with each other, but a young individual will not use -a/-ya towards one who is older than oneself or holds a higher status than oneself.

Middle Korean had three classes of the vocative case, but practically only -아/-야 is remaining in everyday life. -여/-이여 is only used in literature and archaic expressions, and -하 has completely disappeared.

The honorific suffix -ssi (Hangul: 씨; Hanja: 氏; lit. 'surname') is the most commonly used honorific used amongst people of approximately equal speech level, and is equivalent to English honorifics Mr./Ms./Mrs. It is attached after the full name (e.g., 이석민 씨), or simply after the first name (e.g., 석민 씨 Seokmin-ssi) if the speaker is more familiar with someone. Appending -ssi to the surname (e.g., 박 씨 Bak-ssi) can be considered quite rude, as it indicates the speaker considers themself to be of a higher social status than the person with whom they are speaking.^[14]

Nim (님) (by itself after a proper noun) is the highest form of honorifics and above -ssi. Nim will follow addressees' names on letters/emails and postal packages. It is often roughly translated as "Mr." or "Ms./Mrs.".^[15][16] -nim (as an affix) is used as a commonplace honorific for guests, customers, clients, and unfamiliar individuals. -nim is also used towards someone who is revered and admired for having a significant amount of skill, intellect, knowledge, etc. and is used for people who are of a higher rank than oneself. Examples include family members (eomeonim 어머님 & abeonim 아버님), teachers (seonsaengnim 선생님), clergy (e.g. pastors – moksanim 목사님), and gods (haneunim 하느님 / hananim 하나님).

Seonbae (Hangul: 선배; Hanja: 先輩) is used to address senior colleagues or mentor figures relating to oneself (e.g. older students in school, older/more experienced athletes, mentors, senior colleagues in academia, business, work, etc.). As with English titles such as Doctor, seonbae can be used either by itself or as a title. Hubae (후배; 後輩) is used to refer to juniors. Usually, people in senior and junior relationships call each other '선배님 (Seonbaenim)' (e.g. Chaeryeong seonbaenim 채령 선배님) and '후배님(Hubaenim)' at the first meeting.

Gun (Hangul: 군; Hanja: 君) is used moderately in formal occasions (such as weddings), for young, unmarried males. Gun is also used to address young boys by an adult. Yang (양; 孃) is the female equivalent of gun and is used to address young girls. Both are used in a similar fashion to ssi, following either the whole name or the first name in solitude. For example, if the boy's name is '김유겸 (Kim Yugyeom)', he can be called as '김유겸 군 (Kim Yugyeom-gun)' or '유겸 군 (Yugyeom-gun)'. And if the girl's name is '임나연 (Im Nayeon)', she can be called as '임나연 양 (Im Nayeon-yang)' or '나연 양 (Nayeon-yang)'.

• Gwiha (Hangul: 귀하; Hanja: 貴下) can be seen commonly in formal letters, often used by a company to a client.
• Gakha (각하: 閣下) is used only in extremely formal occasions, usually when addressing presidents, high officials, or bishops and archbishops. Somewhat avoided nowadays due to its connotations to Imperial Japan.
• Hapha (합하; 閤下) was used to address the father of the king who was not a king (Daewongun), or the oldest son of the crown prince.
• Jeoha (저하; 邸下) was only used when addressing the crown prince.
• Jeonha (전하; 殿下) was only used when addressing kings, now mostly used to address cardinals.
• Pyeha (폐하; 陛下) was used only when addressing emperors.
• Seongha (성하; 聖下) is used when addressing popes, patriarchates or the Dalai Lama; the equivalent of the English word "His Holiness" or "His Beatitude".
• Nari (나리) or alternatively, naeuri (나으리), was used by commoners in the Joseon dynasty to refer to people of higher status but below daegam (대감; 大監), English equivalent of "His Excellency".^[17] The honorific is of native Korean origin.

When speaking to someone about another person, you must calculate the relative difference in position between the person you are referring to and the person you are speaking to. This is known as apjonbeop 압존법 (壓尊法) or "relative honorifics".

Relative honorifics (압존법) is usually used in the home or relationship between teacher and student. For example, "할아버지, 아버지가 아직 안 왔습니다. (Harabeoji, abeojiga ajik an watseumnida.)"^[18] means "Grandfather, father hasn't come yet." Both grandfather and father are in higher position than the speaker, but grandfather is much higher than father. In this special case, Korean do not use honorific expression on father to admire grandfather. Therefore, in this sentence, "아버지가 (abeojiga)" is used rather than "아버지께서 (abeojikkeseo)" and "왔습니다 (watseumnida)" rather than "오셨습니다 (osyeotseumnida)".

For example, one must change the post positional particle and verb if the person you are speaking to is a higher position (age, title, etc.) than the person you are referring to. "부장님, 이 과장님께서는 지금 자리에 안 계십니다 (bujangnim, I gwajangnimkkeseoneun jigeum jarie an gyesimnida)" translates to 'General Manager, Manager Lee is not at his desk now', with the bolded parts elevating the manager higher than the general manager, even though they both are in a higher position than you. The general manager would be offended by the fact that you elevated the manager above him.

However, relative honorifics in the workplace is far from Korean traditional language etiquette.^[19] In front of the superior, lowering another superior who is in a lower position may apply in private relationships, such as between family members and between teacher and student.

Therefore, the above sentence can be modified according to workplace etiquette as follows.

• "부장님, 이 과장님은 지금 자리에 안 계십니다. (Bujangnim, I gwajangnimeun jigeum jarie an gyesimnida.)"

Korean also has humble speech, usually denoted with the inclusion of the affix -오- [-o-].

The humble suffix has the effect of lowering the status of the speaker against the addressee, thereby increasing the degree of respect shown by the former toward the latter. The humble suffix, is rare nowadays in Standard Seoul dialect, however, it is employed in religious services as well as historical literary or entertainment media.

The humble suffix appears in four different allomorphs:

1. (으)오 (eu)o:

2. 사오 (sao)

3. (으)옵 (eu)op:

4. 사옵 saop)

The honorific suffix -시/(으)시 and the humble suffix, both employed to express the speaker's respect, are different from one another in that the honorific suffix directs the speaker's respect to the subject of a sentence, whereas the humble suffix directs it to the addressee. And of course the respect shown by the humble suffix is the result of degradation of the speaker's status against the addressee(s), examples:

1. 선생님이 오셔 (seongnimi osyeo) 'The teacher is coming', whereby a student talking to another student in casual informal style while giving respect to teacher by employing honorific affix 셔 (시 + 어)
2. 아이가 가옵니다 (aiga gaomnida) 'The child is going', whereby a servant speaking to master in formal polite style while humbling himself with affix -옵- (op) showing no deference to the subject.
3. 할머님이 오시옵니다 (halmeonimi osiomnida) 'grandma is coming', whereby a child speaking to an elder such as their grandmother or someone in high authority in a formal and polite style, while still humbling himself or herself with the affix -옵- (op), and while also showing deference to the subject by employing the honorific affix -시- (si).

The humble affix is still used at certain times for example in "but/even-though" statements as is -오나. For instance, President Yoon Suk-yeol in 2022 was asked a question:^[20]

• 정말 외람되오나 (jeongmal oeramdoeona) – 'It is very impudent of me but [can I ask you]?'

• Korean speech levels

• T–V distinction (politeness differences more generally)
• Chinese honorifics
• Chinese titles
• Japanese honorifics