Pronouns (They) - 그들, 걔들, 그분들

As I have explained in the previous post, "He and She" are very infrequently used in spoken Korean. It is the same in the case of "They" as well. It is hardly ever used in normal conversations (except for 걔들 / 걔네들, the informal form of "They" which is more frequently used in informal spoken Korean)

What we do instead is to refer to someone by their names, position or status in society or not just mentioning "He, She, or They" at all in conversations as long as the speakers having a conversation know who they're talking about.

But for the sake of completeness, I include the various forms of "They" below. They're more likely to be used in songs, dramas and books with the exception of 걔들 / 걔네들 which, as I said earlier, are used quite often in informal spoken Korean among close friends or people of similar age in a close social network.

  • Note: Essentially, 걔들 and 걔네들 are both used as "They" in informal spoken Korean, and are usually interchangeable. 


Informal form 
(그들 / 그녀들, They)

  • 그들 / 그녀들 = They
    • 걔들 / 걔네들 (usually in spoken Korean)
    • 그들 (when referring to a group of guys or a mixed-sex group) 
    • 그녀들 (when referring to a group of gals only)





  • 그들의 = Their
    • 걔들 / 걔네들 (의 is usually omitted in spoken Korean)

  • 그들의 것 = Theirs (written Korean)
    • 걔들 꺼 / 걔네들 꺼 (usually in spoken Korean)


Polite form (그분들, They)

  • 그분들 = They

  • 그분들의 = Their
    • 그분들 (의 is usually omitted in spoken Korean)

  • 그분들의 것 = Theirs (written Korean)
    • 그분들 꺼 (usually in spoken Korean)

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