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)
- 그들은 = They + 은 (Topic particle)
- 걔들은 / 걔네들은 (usually in spoken Korean)
- 그들이 = They + 이 (Identifier particle)
- 걔들이 / 걔네들이 (usually in spoken Korean)
- 그들도 = They + 도 (Additive particle)
- 걔들도 / 걔네들도 (usually in spoken Korean)
- 그들을 = They + 를 (Object particle)
- 걔들을 / 걔네들을 (usually in spoken Korean)
- 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
- 그분들은 = They + 은 (Topic particle)
- 그분들이 = They + 이 (Identifier particle)
- 그분들도 = They + 도 (Additive particle)
- 그분들을 = They + 를 (Object particle)
- 그분들의 = Their
- 그분들 (의 is usually omitted in spoken Korean)
- 그분들의 것 = Theirs (written Korean)
- 그분들 꺼 (usually in spoken Korean)
nice
ReplyDelete