[Learn Korean E25]”Honorifics” “-(이)세요”, “-(으)십시오”

안녕하세요. 토미입니다.
Let’s have fun learning a thrilling language, Korean!

The theme of today’s class is 어서 오십시오 “Welcome to the store.”

In today’s class, we will learn honorific sentences for nouns, noun+(이)세요 “is/am/are” and –(으)십시오 “Please do something.”

Like in the previous class, we will learn the honorific expressions that store staff use when you talk to them in Korea, so that it will be helpful for your trip or daily life in Korea.

In addition, today is the 25th lesson, so I prepared for the test for free!!
Lessons 21 to 25 will be on the test.

A test will be the perfect tool to deepen your understanding!
You can check my description section later.

By learning all these practical expressions, you can pass TOPIK and become a master of Korean!

그럼 시작할게요.

Listen to the Conversation

The theme of today’s conversation is 어서 오십시오 “Welcome to the store.”

Tammy has made a reservation for her friend.
What kind of conversation will the waitress and Tammy have?

First, let’s listen to the conversation with English subtitles.

그럼 들어보세요！

• 직원：어서 오십시오. 고객님. 성함이 어떻게 되세요?
  Waitress： Welcome to the store. Ma’am. May I ask your name, please?
• 토미：저는 토미예요. 오늘 7시에 예약했어요.
  Tammy： I’m Tammy. I made a reservation at 7 o’clock today.
• 직원：여기에 기록이 있네요. 모두 세 분이세요?
  Waitress： I found the record. All for three people, right?
• 토미：아뇨. 두 명이에요.
  Tammy： No. For two people.
• 직원：알겠습니다. 이쪽으로 들어오십시오.
  Waitress： Okay. Please come in this way.

Vocabulary and Phrases

Tammy had a smooth conversation with the staff, right?
You can do it, too.

Let’s see the vocabulary and phrases in the conversation.

• 직원：어서 오십시오, 고객님. 성함이 어떻게 되세요?

고객님 means “customer,” and the synonym is 손님 “customer.”
고객님 sounds more formal than 손님.

성함이 어떻게 되세요? is a phrase that you should memorize as a whole.

When you break it down, it would be 성함이 “name,” 어떻게 “how,” 되세요? “is,” so therefore the direct translation would be “How is your name?”
It is an honorific expression with a nuance like “May I have your name?”

I will give you honorific words that Koreans use often.
이름 “name” is 성함, 집 “house” is 댁, 나이 “age” is 연세, 생일 “birthday,” is 생신, and 밥 “meal,” is 진지.

You might hear these words if you notice some scenes in Korean dramas where the elderly appear.

• 토미：저는 토미예요. 오늘 7시에 예약했어요.

예약하다 means “to reserve.”
예약석 means “reserved seat.”

• 직원：여기에 기록이 있네요. 모두 세 분이세요?

기록 means “record.”
기록하다 means “to record,” and 세계 신기록 means “new world record.”

모두 means “all, everyone, everybody.”
When you go to a concert in Korea, you will hear singers say 모두 함께 박수 쳐요, which means, “Let’s all clap together.”

• 직원：알겠습니다. 이쪽으로 들어오십시오.

이쪽 means “this side.”
Let’s review similar words since I introduced 이쪽 “this side.”

그쪽 means “that side,” and 저쪽 means “over there (side).”
This “over this side” sounds a little strange in English, but you can understand that 저쪽 is farther away 그쪽 “that side.”

들어오다 means “to come in,” and 들어가다 means “to go in.”

In Korean, there is no one exact word to express “enter” like in English, but there are words like 들어오다 “come in” and 들어가다 “go in,” so you have to distinguish them and use them differently depending on the situation.

For example, as in this example sentence, 들어오십시오 means “Please come in.”
들어가십시오. is “Please go in.”
This implies, “Please go back safely.”

Korean people use both of these expressions in greetings.

Grammar

Noun +(이)세요

The first one is noun+(이)세요, which means “am/is/are” in honorific form.

This is straightforward to apply.
If a noun has a final consonant, you use +이세요, and if there is no final consonant, you use -세요.

When asking questions, you raise your tone like -(이)세요?.

Let’s look at the conversation.

모두 세 분이세요?
All for three people, right?

Here, 세 분 has ㄴ final consonant, so you add 이세요 to say 세 분이세요? “All for three people, right?”

Let’s look at another example.

강 선생님께서는 중학교 교사세요.
Mrs. Kang is a middle school teacher.

Here, 교사 “teacher” does not have a final consonant, so you add 세요 directly to say 교사세요 “She is a teacher.”

Quiz

What goes in the bracket?

① 윤 박사님께서는 서울대학교 교수(     ).
Dr. Yoon is a professor at the University of Seoul.

(1)이세요 (2)세요

The answer is (2).
교수 does not have a final consonant, so you add -세요 to say 교수세요.

The whole sentence would be 윤 박사님께서는 서울대학교 교수(세요).

② 할아버님께서는 건축 회사 사장님(     ).
My grandfather is the president of a construction company.

(1)이세요 (2)세요

The answer is (1).
사장님 has ㅁ final consonant, so you add 이세요 to say 사장님이세요.

The whole sentence would be 할아버님께서는 건축 회사 사장님(이세요).

(으)십시오 Please do~

Let’s see -(으)십시오. Korean people use it in 2 ways.

One is to ask you to do something in a very polite way, such as “Please, do something.”

Second, they use it in idiomatic greetings such as 어서 오십시오, 들어 오십시오, which means “Welcome to the store.”

Grammar is pretty simple.

If the stem of the verb has a final consonant, you use -으십시오; when a stem does not have a final consonant, you use -십시오.

First, I will show you an example sentence, “Please, do something.”

이 자리에 앉으십시오.
Please, sit in this seat.

Here, 앉다 “to sit” has ㄵ final consonant, so you add -으십시오, and it becomes 앉으십시오 “Please, sit.”
In conversations, Korean people also use 앉으세요 as well.
Both have the same meaning.

Next, I will give you an example of idiomatic expressions in greetings.

어서 오십시오.
Welcome to the store.

This is a greeting that Korean workers in shops or restaurants say as an idiom.
Let’s see 오십시오 here.
오십시오 is made up of 오다 “to come.” It does not have a final consonant, so you add 십시오 to say 오십시오, which means “please, come in.”

When combined like 어서 오십시오, 어서 means “quickly.”

Its direct translation would be, “Please, come in quickly.”
In conversations, Korean people also use 어서 오세요 as well.

Quiz

What goes in the bracket?

① 길은 저에게 (          ).
Please ask me for directions.

(1)물어보십시오 (2)들어 보십시오

The answer is (1).
물어보다 is “to ask.”
The stem of 물어보다 does not have a final consonant, so you add -십시오, and it becomes 물어보십시오.

The whole sentence would be 길은 저에게 (물어보십시오).

② 이 티켓을 (          ).
     Please take this ticket.

(1)웃으십시오　 (2)받으십시오

The answer is (1).
받다 is “to receive/take.”
Since 받다 has ㄷ as the final consonant, you add -으십시오 and say 받으십시오.

The whole sentence would be 이 티켓을 (받으십시오).

Conversation (Korean only)

Now that I’ve finished explaining the grammar, let’s try listening to the conversation again, but this time, it will be in Korean only.
I am sure you can understand more Korean than before!

그럼 확인해 보세요！

• 직원：어서 오십시오. 고객님. 성함이 어떻게 되세요?
• 토미：저는 토미예요. 오늘 7시에 예약했어요.
• 직원：여기에 기록이 있네요. 모두 세 분이세요?
• 토미：아뇨. 두 명이에요.
• 직원：알겠습니다. 이쪽으로 들어오십시오.

Conversation Practice

Now that you understand the content of the conversation, let’s practice reading it aloud.

I’ll play the audio one sentence at a time, so please try reading along with me.

This is one of the few times you can practice, so please practice reading it aloud confidently.

그럼 큰소리로 읽어 보세요！

• 직원：어서 오십시오. 고객님. 성함이 어떻게 되세요?
  Waitress： Welcome to the store. Ma’am. May I ask your name, please?
• 토미：저는 토미예요. 오늘 7시에 예약했어요.
  Tammy： I’m Tammy. I made a reservation at 7 o’clock today.
• 직원：여기에 기록이 있네요. 모두 세 분이세요?
  Waitress： I found the record. All for three people, right?
• 토미：아뇨. 두 명이에요.
  Tammy： No. For two people.
• 직원：알겠습니다. 이쪽으로 들어오십시오.
  Waitress： Okay. Please come in this way.

Homework

I’ll announce the homework for today’s class!
We have two assignments, as usual.
For the first homework, make two sentences using -(이)세요 “is/am/are” and (으)십시오. “Please, do something.”

For the first sentence, use -(이)세요 to write an occupation of someone older than you, such as your boss or parents.

• 우리 아버님께서는 요리사십니다.
  My father is a cook.

For the second sentence, use -(으)십시오 to write a polite sentence.

• 밤에는 조용히 하십시오.
  Please, be quiet at night.

The second homework is memorizing vocabulary.
Please memorize 40 words for #601~#640 on page 8 of the Elementary Vocabulary List.
You can quickly take the 40 words on my website for free, so please try it!

Also, this is the 25th lesson.
So, I prepared a gift for you.
That is a special test for Lesson No.21 to 25.
Of course, you can take it for free because this is my gift.
I will link in the description section below, so please have fun taking a test!

That’s all for today!
그럼 오늘도 행복 가득, 웃음 가득한 하루 되세요. 한국어 화이팅, 화이팅, 화이팅！