It is a well-known fact that respect is a BIG thing in Korean culture. Koreans value respect so much that it shows even in their language. That’s why learning Korean honorifics is extremely important for new Korean learners
Why is it important, you may ask? Imagine a person going for an interview and his first words to the interviewer are, “Hey dude, what’s up?” Rude, isn’t it? Learning Korean honorifics will help you to avoid sounding rude to people you ought to be showing respect to.
Korean honorifics can be very confusing for many Korean beginner learners. There are a lot of things to consider. Things like which kind of words or forms to use, when to use them, how to use them etc.
Fret not! I will explain the points you should know about Korean honorifics as simply as possible.
I’ve made this summary chart here so you can get what you’re looking for. Read on to get all the details, and context for each expression.
| Audio | English | Pronunciation | Speech Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| grandfather | harabeoji | basic title | |
| grandmother | halmeoni | basic title | |
| father | abeoji | basic title | |
| mother | eomeoni | basic title | |
| grandfather | harabeonim | honorific title | |
| grandmother | halmeonim | honorific title | |
| father | abeonim | honorific title | |
| mother | eomeonim | honorific title | |
| What job does your father do (for a living)? | abeonimeun museun il hasipnikka? | formal | |
| older sister to a male | nuna | basic title | |
| older brother to a male | hyeong | basic title | |
| older sister to a female | eonni | basic title | |
| older brother to a female | oppa | basic title | |
| older sister to a male | nunim | honorific title | |
| older brother to a male | hyeongnim | honorific title | |
| older brother to a female | orabeoni | honorific title | |
| Mr,Ms | nim | suffix | |
| driver | gisanim | honorific title | |
| attorney | byeonhosanim | honorific title | |
| nurse | ganhosanim | honorific title | |
| pastor | moksanim | honorific title | |
| pilot | jojongsanim | honorific title | |
| journalist | gijanim | honorific title | |
| cook | yorisanim | honorific title | |
| teacher | seonsaengnim | honorific title | |
| doctor | uisa | basic title | |
| team leader | timjangnim | honorific title | |
| president or CEO | sajangnim | honorific title | |
| Head of Department | bujangnim | honorific title | |
| Deputy Head of Department | chajangnim | honorific title | |
| Section Chief | gwajangnim | honorific title | |
| Assistant Manager | daerinim | honorific title | |
| senior | seonbae | basic title | |
| junior | hubae | basic title | |
| senior | seonbaenim | honorific title | |
| junior | hubaenim | honorific title | |
| middle-aged or married woman | ajumma | basic title | |
| middle-aged or married woman | ajumeoni | honorific title | |
| middle-aged man | ajeossi | basic title | |
| Mr,Ms | ssi | suffix | |
| I | na | casual | |
| I | jeo | polite/formal | |
| I am Jay. | jeoneun jeiipnida. | formal | |
| my | je | polite/formal | |
| our | jeohui | polite/formal | |
| My name is Jay. | je ireungeun jeiipnida. | formal | |
| There are 4 people in my family. | jeohui gajogeun 4myeongipnida. | formal | |
| My father works for Samsung. | jeohui abeojiga samseongeseo il hapnida. | formal | |
| My father works for Samsung. | jeohui abeojikkeseo samseongeseo il hapnida. | formal | |
| I’m calling my father. | jeoneun abeojikke jeonhwa deuryeoyo. | polite | |
| name | seongham | honorific noun | |
| person | bun | honorific noun | |
| disease | byeonghwan | honorific noun | |
| someone else’s child | jajebun | honorific noun | |
| home | daek | honorific noun | |
| age | yeonse | honorific noun | |
| birthday | saengsin | honorific noun | |
| Happy birthday! | saengsin chukha deuripnida! | formal | |
| to be at | gyesida | honorific verb | |
| to eat,drink | deusida | honorific verb | |
| to sleep | jumusida | honorific verb | |
| to give | deurida | honorific verb | |
| to speak | malsseumhada | honorific verb | |
| to die | doragasida | honorific verb | |
| to meet | boepda | honorific verb | |
| My father has slept. | jeohui abeojiga jumusyeotseupnida. | formal | |
| to go | gada | verb | |
| to go | gasida | honorific verb | |
| to read | ikda | verb | |
| to read | ilgeusida | honorific verb | |
| My father has left. | jeohui abeojiga gasyeosseoyo. | polite | |
| My mother is pretty. | jeohui eomeoniga ippeusyeoyo. | polite | |
| My father works for Samsung. | jeohui abeojiga samseongeseo ilhasyeo. | casual | |
| My father works for Samsung. | jeohui abeojiga samseongeseo ilhasyeoyo. | polite | |
| My father works for Samsung. | jeohui abeojiga samseongeseo ilhasipnida. | formal |
What are Korean Honorifics?
An honorific is basically a word, title, or phrase expressing respect or politeness. In the Korean language, honorifics take on different forms; honorific titles, honorific words etc.
It’s hard to even decide where to start learning, right?
Now, imagine yourself going to meet someone for the first time. The very first thing you would probably do is to address the person’s name or title. So, let’s begin by learning Korean honorific titles.
Korean Honorific Titles
In general, you will address someone either by name, position or based on the person’s relationship with you. The higher the person is in rank (be it age, position, family relation etc.), the more you need to use honorific titles.
Addressing family
Let’s begin by learning how to address the older people in your family. These people are namely your grandparents and parents. You can call your grandparents and parents by their Korean titles below:
할아버지 (haraboji) - grandfather
할머니 (halmoni) - grandmother
아버지 (aboji) - father
어머니 (omoni) - mother
If you need to address someone else’s grandparent or parent, you will need to show more respect. You may be asking a friend what job his father does. In such cases, you can address them by their honorific titles:
할아버님 (harabonim) - grandfather
할머님 (halmonim) - grandmother
아버님 (abonim) - father
어머님 (omonim) - mother
E.g. 아버님은 무슨 일 하십니까?
(abonimeun museun il hasimnikka?)
What job does your father do (for a living)?
Did you notice that every honorific title above ends with a 님 (nim)? The 님 (nim) suffix is actually attached to many other family-related titles to make them honorific. Later, you will see more of the 님 (nim) suffix in action, so just keep that at the back of your head.
Next, we will learn how to address sisters and brothers. The Korean titles for older siblings are gender-specific.
If you are a male, you will call your older sister 누나 (nuna) and your older brother 형 (hyung). If you are a female, you will call your older sister 언니 (onni) and your older brother 오빠 (oppa).
누나 (nuna) - older sister to a male
형 (hyung) - older brother to a male
언니 (onni) - older sister to a female
오빠 (oppa) - older brother to a female
These days, we hardly use honorific titles when addressing older siblings. However, if you really want to know the honorific titles for older siblings, they are:
누님 (nunim) - older sister to a male
형님 (hyungnim) - older brother to a male
오라버니 (oraboni) - older brother to a female
You will hardly hear gen Z or Millenials using these titles. If you actually do hear them using these titles, they are usually using them in a joking manner.
Addressing by profession or position
In situations when you need to address someone who holds a certain job position (like a taxi driver or a teacher), you can actually address them by the name of their profession with the addition of the suffix 님 (nim). It’s easy, isn’t it?
If you put 님 (nim) as a suffix, the profession title becomes honorific. Let’s say you want to get the attention of the taxi driver, you should say 기사님 (gisanim) to be respectful. 기사 (gisa) means driver.
Below are some examples of some honorific titles with the profession title + 님 (nim) suffix format:
변호사님 (byonhosanim) - attorney
간호사님 (ganhosanim) - nurse
목사님 (mokssanim) - pastor
조종사님 (jojongsanim) - pilot
기자님 (gijanim) - journalist
요리사님 (yorisanim) - cook
선생님 (sonsaengnim) - teacher
… and the list goes on!
FUN FACT: 선생님 (sonsaengnim) is a title that can be used not just for teachers. Since doctors or 의사 (uisa) are highly respected in Korea, we give extra respect to them by calling them 의사 선생님 (uisa sonsaengnim). This is because teachers have long been honoured in Korean culture.
The 님 (nim) suffix is so versatile that it can be used to address most professionals. It can also be used to address people with certain position titles. This is extremely useful in the workplace or in school.
For example, you can call your team leader 팀장님 (timjangnim). 팀장 (timjang) means team leader. Let’s see if you are getting the hang of it. What would you call the 사장 (sajang) i.e. the president of a company? If you said 사장님 (sajangnim), you were correct 😉.
Below are some examples of some honorific titles with the position title + 님 (nim) suffix format:
부장님 (bujangnim) - Head of Department
차장님 (chajangnim) - Deputy Head of Department
과장님 (gwajangnim) - Section Chief
대리님 (daerinim) - Assistant Manager
FUN FACT: You will sometimes hear customers in Korean restaurants call restaurant employees 사장님 (sajangnim) to get their attention. Most Koreans find this practice respectful. Think about it, wouldn’t you like it if random strangers approached you and said, “excuse me, boss”?
In school or at the workplace, there will always be seniors and juniors i.e. 선배 (sonbae) and 후배 (hubae). How would you address them respectfully?
선배님 (sonbaenim) - senior
후배님 (hubaenim) - junior
Now let’s talk about people who may hold a higher social position i.e. those who are older than you.
When addressing older friends, it will be awkward to call them by their job titles if you guys don’t work together, isn’t it? For such situations, you can address them as if they were your older siblings!
누나 (nuna) - older friend to a male
형 (hyung) - older friend to a male
언니 (onni) - older friend to a female
오빠 (oppa) - older friend to a female
If you happen to know of females who are older (like middle-aged) or married, you can call them 아줌마 (ajumma) or to be more respectful, you can call them 아주머니 (ajumoni). But be careful with this one. If you call a woman who is not yet middle-aged 아주마 (ajumma), she will never forgive you.
아줌마 (ajumma) - middle-aged or married woman
아주머니 (ajumoni) - middle-aged or married woman (honorific)
For males who are older (middle-aged), you can call them 아저씨 (ajossi).
아저씨 (ajossi) - middle-aged man
You can use both 아줌마 (ajumma) and 아저씨 (ajossi) for both strangers and people you know since both words mean ‘auntie’ and ‘uncle’. Once again, be careful not to call people who may be too young to be called those titles.
Sometimes, you may need to be more specific when addressing someone. You may have multiple older male friends or many teachers in school. You can actually put their first or last names before their honorific titles for clarity.
For example, if you are a female and your friend’s first name is 준호 (junho), you can call your older male friend 준호 오빠 (junho oppa). If you have a teacher with a last name 박 (bak), you can call the teacher 박 선생님.
As a rule of thumb, using a person’s last name is more respectful than using their first name.
Addressing by name
If the person you are addressing is similar to you on the social rank, you can address them by their name. But addressing by name alone can be disrespectful.
To counter that, we can add 님 (nim) or 씨 (sshi) behind their first names. Both words roughly translate to mister or miss in this case. Let’s use 준호 (junho) as an example again. You can call him 준호 씨 (junho ssi) or 준호 님 (junho nim).
You can put the 님 (nim) or 씨 (sshi) suffix if speaking to someone unfamiliar or if meeting someone for the first time and you aren’t sure of the person’s social rank.
The last scenario is the easiest one and it’s for when speaking to people whom you are closest with and they are alright with you calling them by name alone. These people should also be younger or about the same age as yourself.
Let’s say if we want to call 준호 (junho), who is our best friend by this point, you can put a 야 (ya) behind their first name and say 준호야 (junhoya). If their first name ends with a vowel, like 나연 (nayeon), you can put an 아 (a) behind and say 나연아.
Great job for reading up till this point! Now that we have learned how to address someone properly, we need to know how to form the rest of our sentences correctly.
We will go step-by-step, by learning some honorific pronouns, particles, words, and speech levels. After that, you should be confident enough in Korean honorifics.
“Humble” Korean Pronouns
Let’s say you are having a conversation with someone. You say hi in Korean, and you want to introduce your name. In English, it would go something like: Hi! I am Jay.
In Korean, there are different versions of the “I” pronoun:
나 (na) - I
저 (jo) - I
If you want to sound respectful, you should use 저 (jo) as it is considered a humble pronoun i.e. you make yourself lower than the other person. So you can say,
저는 제이입니다.
(joneun jeiimnida)
I am Jay.
The other humble pronouns that you can use are:
제 (je) - my
저희 (johi) - our
These humble pronouns will be useful when talking more about yourself in a humble way. For example,
제 이릉은 제이입니다.
(je ireumeun jeiimnida)
My name is Jay.
저희 가족은 4명입니다.
(johi gajogeun nemyongimnida)
There are 4 people in my family.
Korean Honorific Subject Particles
Let’s say you want to talk about your father who works at Samsung, you can say,
저희 아버지가 삼성에서 일 합니다.
(johi abojiga samsongeso il hamnida)
My father works for Samsung.
There is nothing wrong with this sentence. But, if you would like to be more respectful, you can use the 께서 formal subject particle instead of 이/가 to honor your father like this:
저희 아버지께서 삼성에서 일 합니다.
(johi abojikkeso samsongeso il hamnida)
My father works for Samsung.
Another formal particle you can use is 께 (kke) and it can replace the 에게 (ege) particle. This particle honors the person being mentioned.
저는 아버지께 전화 드려요.
(joneun abojikke jonhwa deuryoyo)
I’m calling my father.
Korean Honorific Words
Now it’s time to build our Korean honorific vocabulary knowledge. There are many words in the Korean language that have honorific versions. This will help you a step further in forming respectful and honorific sentences.
Honorific Nouns
Here are some honorific Korean nouns to get you started:
성함 (seongham) - name
분 (bun) - person
병환 (byeonghwan) - disease
자제분 (jajebun) - someone else’s child
댁 (daek) - home
연세 (yeonse) - age
생신 (saengsin) - birthday
As an example, if you want to wish your grandfather happy birthday in Korean, you will need to use the honorific version of ‘birthday’ and say,
생신 축하 드립니다!
(saengsin chuka deurimnida)
Happy birthday!
Honorific Verbs
No Korean sentence is complete without a verb. Below are some common Korean honorific verbs for you to learn:
계시다 (gyesida) - to be at
드시다 (deusida) - to eat/drink
주무시다 (jumusida) - to sleep
드리다 (deurida) - to give
말씀하다 (malsseumhada) - to speak
돌아가시다 (doragasida) - to die
뵙다 (bweptta) - to meet
These honorific verbs should be used when a respected person is doing it. For example, if you want to say that your father has gone to bed, you can say,
저희 아버지가 주무셨습니다.
(abojikkeso jumusyotsseumnida)
My father has slept.
Other Verbs and Adjectives
How about the other verbs and adjectives that have no honorific versions, you may ask? You can actually make them honorific by making a small modification. It’s extremely easy.
Consider the most basic verb 가다 (gada). To make it honorific, all you need to do is to add a 시 before the 다 to become:
가시다 (gasida) - to go
If the verb ends with a vowel, add 으시 instead!
읽다 (iktta) → 읽으시다 (ilgeusida)
to read
So if you want to say, “My father has left,” you can say,
저희 아버지가 가셨어요.
(johi abojiga gasyossoyo)
My father has left.
This 시 addition works on adjectives too!
E.g. 저희 어머니가 이쁘셔요.
(johi omoniga ippeusyoyo)
My mother is pretty.
Speech Levels
After all that we have learned above, the last thing to consider in forming honorific sentences is speech level. Choosing which speech level to use depends very much on the setting that the conversation is taking place.
Let’s say you want to talk about your father working in Samsung in a casual setting (e.g. having a chat with a close friend of yours), you can say,
저희 아버지가 삼성에서 일하셔.
(johi abojiga samsongeso il hasyo)
My father works for Samsung.
Notice that even though it was a casual speech, I didn’t forget to show respect to my father by using almost everything we have learnt before; humble pronoun 저희 (johi) and honorific verb 일하시다 (ilhasida).
If you are in a setting that requires politeness (e.g. talking to a colleague at work), you can say,
저희 아버지가 삼성에서 일하셔요.
(johi abojiga samsongeso ilhasyoyo)
My father works for Samsung.
Last but not least, in a setting that requires formality (e.g. speaking to an interviewer), you can say,
저희 아버지가 삼성에서 일하십니다.
(johi abojiga samsongeso ilhasimnida)
My father works for Samsung.
If you need more examples on different speech levels, you can refer to a very useful Thank You chart made by one of our other authors here.
Conclusion
By now, you should be confident enough to form simple honorific sentences. Trust me, once you have truly grasped Korean honorifics, you will be sounding more native than other beginner Korean learners.
Also, always remember to never use honorifics for yourself. The general rule is to always put others above yourself. With that in mind and a lot of practice, you will be a Korean honorific expert in no time.
Already an expert on Korean honorifics? Why not consider signing up as Hilokal trainer and sharing your knowledge with our students from all over the world?
