Verbs - Polite [Present, Past]

Polite Form 

This lesson is about the polite form of verbs, in addition to the informal form which we learned in the previous lesson. Let's go over again the differences between the informal and polite forms.

• Informal - Generally speaking, the informal form is used among people of the same age or to people who are younger by older people. It is also used by people who are closely related such as such family members and relatives. People who are close friends would use this form depending on the familiarity and acceptability.

• Polite - The polite form is used when speaking to people who are older than you or of a higher rank than you such as in the company, army and other institutions. However, people generally use the polite form in many social settings regardless of one's age. Initially, it would be best to stick to the polite form when learning Korean, as this would be the predominant form of speaking to people in many social environments. However, if you attend school or other similar institutions where you'd make friends and the environment is more casual, it might be more appropriate to use the informal form.

Note: The words in bold indicate which of the two negatives are more commonly used in each case, i.e. 먹지 않습니다 is more commonly used than 안 먹습니다 in the written form, and 안 먹어요 is more commonly used than 먹지 않아요 in the spoken form.

Polite Written Form	Present	Past
Positive	먹습니다	먹었습니다
Negative	먹지 않습니다 안 먹습니다	먹지 않았습니다 안 먹었습니다

Polite Spoken Form	Present	Past
Positive	먹어요	먹었어요
Negative	먹지 않아요 안 먹어요	먹지 않았어요 안 먹었어요

Conjugation Rules

I) Informal Plain → Polite Present (Written)

First of all, take 다 off the plain form of verbs, and then:

1. For verbs whose final character has no final consonant, add ㅂ 니다.

E.g.

• 하다 → 합니다 = do
• 가다 → 갑니다 = go
• 오다 → 옵니다 = come
• 쓰다 → 씁니다 = write 
• 말하다 → 말합니다 = speak
• 바라다 → 바랍니다 = hope 
• 자라다 → 자랍니다 = grow
  

2. For verbs whose final character has a final consonant, add 습니다.

E.g.

• 먹다 → 먹습니다 = eat
  
• 걷다 → 걷습니다 = walk
  
• 듣다 → 듣습니다 = listen
• 읽다 → 읽습니다 = read
• 입다 → 입습니다 = wear

Note: The rule 3 overrides the rule 2.

3. For verbs whose last character has ㄹ as a final consonant, change it to ㅂ and add 니다.
 
E.g. 

• 살다 → 삽니다 = live
• 놀다 → 놉니다 = play (have fun)
• 알다 → 압니다 = know
• 날다 → 납니다 = fly
• 걸다 → 겁니다 = hang (up)
  
• 말다 → 맙니다 = roll (up) 
• 밀다 → 밉니다 = push

II) Informal Past → Polite Past (Written)

Take 다 off the informal past form of verbs, and then add 습니다.

• 했다 → 했습니다 = did
• 갔다 → 갔습니다 = went
• 왔다 → 왔습니다 = came
• 봤다 → 봤습니다 = watched 
• 먹었다 → 먹었습니다 = ate
  
• 달렸다 → 달렸습니다 = ran
  
• 만났다 → 만났습니다 = met

III) Informal → Polite (Spoken)

Just add 요 to the informal spoken forms.

• 해 → 해요 = do
• 가 → 가요 = go 
• 와 → 와요 = come

• 안해 → 안해요 = not do
• 안봐 → 안봐요 = not watch
• 안사 → 안사요 = not buy
• 안자 → 안자요 = not sleep

• 먹었어 → 먹었어요 = ate
• 걸었어 → 걸었어요 = walked
• 만났어 → 만났어요 = met

• 안했어 → 안했어요 = didn't do
• 안갔어 → 안갔어요 = didn't go
• 안먹었어 → 안먹었어요 = didn't eat
• 안빌렸어 → 안빌렸어요 = didn't borrow

A brief revision of the differences between the written and spoken forms

• The written form is used in literature such as books, newspapers and any form of writing that is not 'conversational.' The written form, in essence, is literary, factual and declarative. It is rarely used in normal everyday conversations. However, the news on TV uses this written form of Korean. It is also used in public speeches. The reason is probably due to the fact that the news and public announcements or speeches are usually all declarative and/or factual.

• The spoken form is the usual way in which people speak and have a conversation. It is used in all types of spoken Korean such as normal conversations, dramas, and movies, with the possible exceptions of news, documentaries and other factual, formal types of programs on TV and radio.