Common Sentence Endings In Korean - TalkToMeInKorean

So in this video, let's talk about sentence patterns and also some common Korean sentence endings. Let's find out what they are. Hi, I'm Hyunwoo from TalkToMeInKorean.com. That's our website where you can learn Korean. And today, we'll be talking about sentence endings. But before we begin, let's talk about this concept, this fundamental, one of the fundamental differences between English and Korean. In many English teaching textbooks, you will see a lot of sentence beginnings, like, do you want to, would you like to, do you mind if I, or even simple past tense sentences, like, did you, how did you, or how could you, or other question forms like, how can you, things like that, or even how many. Many of these key structures, they are all about sentence beginnings, how you begin your sentences. And also, some important information about, like, the tense of the sentence, past tense, future tense, present tense, they usually all come in the beginning of, toward the beginning of each sentence. Whereas in Korean, it's completely the opposite. In many sentences, in most Korean sentences, I think, except for some really short ones, the most important information, they usually come at the very end. So, for example, what makes a sentence a negative one, a negative statement, comes at the very end. And what makes a sentence into a question, comes at the very end. So, anything that'll determine, that'll actually have a decisive effect on the character of the sentence, will come at the end. So, therefore, you'll often see these sentence endings in many lessons and books and tutorials. So, there you go. So, that's a little bit of explanation about the concept. So, if you know these common sentence endings, it means that you will be able to speak that much more comfortably and confidently. So, the first ending that I want to introduce is, So, if the other person is speaking to you with everything ending in, that means this person is being formal with you, at least, and then also, potentially, polite with you, too. They're basically speaking 존댓말. 존댓말 means formal or polite language. So, they're not using 반말. 반말 means casual language. So, a lot of sentences end with 요. Item number two on the list is, This is actually almost the same as 요. A little bit higher on the, well, further to the right on the spectrum of politeness or formality. So, yeah, 비읍니다 is a little more formal than 요. So, either way, if the other person is saying everything ending in 요, or 비읍니다, you know almost for sure that the other person is being formal with you. And sentence ending number three is, this one is really interesting, So, if you look at 같아요, it comes from 같다, which means to be the same, a little bit translated. So, 는 것 같아요, it could mean it's the same as, but in this case, it is more naturally translated to, But a lot of Korean speakers, they say 는 것 같아요 a little bit excessively, a little to the point where you would think it's weird, really, like if you pay attention to how often people say this. It's so common that people even don't notice that they're saying 는 것 같아요 at the end of every single sentence almost. So, what does it mean? It means, I think. So, instead of saying, I think, or my opinion is, which could sound a little bit strong, or direct, or even too straightforward, people like to say less direct, more indirect version of saying things. So, they say, it feels like I think you are wrong, or it seems like you are stupid, stuff like that. So, people just try to be more formal or polite by being a little bit less direct. So, it's almost as if they were observing their own feelings and reporting to the other person, right? So, if you just keep an observant eye on how people talk in the Korean speaking environment, you will notice that Korean people say 는 것 같아요 a lot more frequently than English speakers would say, I think. So, that's that, and sentence ending number four is 를 수도 있어요, or 을 수도 있어요, or 릴 수도 있어요. So, 수 있다, if you already know it, you know that it means can. 수 있다, 갈 수 있다, I can go, he can come. 올 수 있다, or 먹을 수 있다, 공부할 수 있다, 알 수 있다, you can figure out, or you can know. So, 수 있다 means, well, it talks about possibility. But, if you add 도, which means also, in combination, they mean, or the whole expression, 수도 있다 means that possibility also exists. So, if you think a little bit more about it, it means this is possible, but that's possible too. So, it means it might. So, some usage examples, you get a call from your friend, and your friend says, 늦을 수도 있어요, 늦을 수도 있어요, I might be late. So, whenever people talk about possibilities, things that could happen, they say, 을 수도 있어요, very, very commonly. But, they also say this when they want to be a little bit indirect about what they think will happen. Sentence ending number five for this video is 조. 조 is short for 지요. 조 or 지요 is used when you are asking for the other person to confirm with you. You want this other person to say that you are right, what you said was correct. Or, it can also be used when you are forcing your opinion on this other person. So, what do I mean by that? So, let me explain a little bit with some usage examples. So, you just baked a cake for your friend, and then you let your friend taste it. So, you say, 맛있지, 맛있지, in 반말, in casual language. If this was in 존댓말, formal or polite language, you could be saying, 맛있죠, or 맛있지요. I think 맛있죠 is a little more colloquial, because that's shorter, people always like shorter stuff. So, 맛있죠, 맛있죠. It means that you want this other person to agree with you in saying that it is delicious. 맛있죠, 맛있죠. And at the same time, you are forcing the other person to say it. 맛있죠, 맛있죠, 맛있죠. So, yeah, there you go. 지 means I want you to agree with me, and then I also want you to take the same opinion as mine. And therefore, it also takes this meaning of, no, you're wrong, this is correct, right? Or, almost the feeling of correcting the other person. So, for example, your friend just said, 오늘 토요일이죠? So, the other person is saying, today is Saturday, right? So, your friend is asking you to agree with you, or confirm with what you just said. But then you say, 아니요, 오늘 일요일이죠? Again, using the same ending, 죠. But this time, you're not confirming what they said, you're actually correcting what they said. 아니요, 일요일이죠? So, basically, I want you to agree with me is the general foundation of this ending, 죠. And also, similarly, if this other person had asked you, 오늘 일요일이죠? It's Sunday today, right? You could also agree with him or her by saying, 네, 일요일이죠? And in this case, when you say, 네, 일요일이죠? It means, of course it's Sunday, what are you talking about? Why are you even questioning that? That kind of feeling is there. So, 죠 can also be translated to, of course. Sentence ending number six for this video is, 는데요 or 는데요. 는데요 or 는데요. You see this 그런데 kind of blended in there, right? So, if you take out 요, the common ending for polite or formal sentences, you see 는데 or 는데. So, it comes from 그런데, which means but or and. So, a lot of people just remember 그런데 as but, but it's not always but. So, for example, you just went home and you opened the refrigerator and there was cake. So, if that was not something that you were expecting to happen, maybe you were surprised and you could say 그런데, right? But then, if it was just a natural flow of things that you did and things that happened, you didn't have any expectations. So, there's no reason to say but. I went home and I opened the refrigerator but there was a cake. You know, you don't say that. I opened the refrigerator and there was some cake. In that case, in Korean, 그런데 can fit into both situations. And therefore, 는데요 or 는데요 is also very versatile. So, how can you use this? When you say 는데요 at the end of your sentence, you are basically meaning that your sentence hasn't ended or the whole conversation hasn't ended and you want the other person's participation, their feedback or their response or anything or even their action. So, you can say 어제 친구 만났어요. I met a friend yesterday. And that's it. That's the end of the sentence. Maybe you want to continue but there's no clue as to whether you will continue or not. But if you say 어제 친구 만났는데요, the listener can easily guess that you want to continue on with the sentence. It can be either I met a friend but or I met a friend and. And now, let's talk about a different scenario this time. Your boss asks you to go take something from somebody's desk. Hey, bring that document from so-and-so's desk. And then you go there and you don't find the document on the desk. So, you go back to your boss and you say 거기 그 서류 없어요. There, that document is not or the document is not there. Well, if you say that, that's a very simple, very plain sentence, very neutral sentence. And that's it. But if you want to say, hey, but the document is not there. What do you think? Is this normal or what do you want me to do next? Or do you want me to go check? Or do you want me to do something else? If you want to actually include those meanings in the sentence, you can say 거기 그 서류 없는데요. By ending, it's the end of the sentence, you're not continuing on in this case. By ending the sentence there, you're inviting the other person to engage in the conversation. So, you're inviting the other person to say something about it or possibly get mad at you or do something or go check it himself or herself and things like that. So, it's an invitation to further action or further discussion. So, this can also be used for a lot of back and forth childish arguments too. So, right now, outside of our studio, there's some construction work going on. Like, it's really loud outside. I don't know if you can hear the noise, but I could run up to them and say, we're recording something here. And then the construction worker who is working hard right now could say to me something like this. 우리도 바쁜데요. So, instead of saying 우리도 바빠요, which would only mean we are busy too, by saying 우리도 바쁜데요, they could mean either, but we're busy too or we're busy too, so you just, you know, work it out on your own. Like, do something about it. Go somewhere else to film or move or film on a different day. Something like that. So, asking the other person to do something or say something is, well, basically inviting them to do some other things is 는데요 or 는데요. And the next ending is 네요. Since we can't really avoid the noise, let's talk about that as an example, okay? So, 네요 is basically agreeing with someone. 아, 그렇네요. Yes, that's right. What you said is correct is one usage, 네요. So, a friend of yours recommended a good movie to you and you went and watched it and you can say, 그 영화 재밌네요. 재밌네요. Yeah, I agree that the movie is good or fun to watch, right? And another usage is when you are talking about what you notice. So, for example, you notice that there's some construction work going on outside. So, you can say, 공사하네요. 공사하네요. 공사 is construction and 공사하다 is to have construction, to do construction. So, 공사하네요. Oh, I think the noise went away. And I can say in this case, since I'm observing something, I'm noticing something, I can say, 공사 끝났네요. Instead of just saying 공사 끝났어요, which would be a very plain, neutral sentence, I can say, since I am now observing it for the first time and I'm talking about my discovery, I can say, 공사 끝났네요. And then you can watch a movie for the first time without anybody's recommendation. You can say, 이 영화 재밌네요. 이 영화 재밌네요. Okay? So, in summary, what the 네요 ending means is you are either agreeing with the other person or you're talking about something that you just noticed. And the last sentence ending is 세요. 세요. 세요 has this, contains in itself the honorific suffix 시. 시. By honorific, I mean you are raising the other person up and you are kind of lowering yourself, being a little more humble. So, 시, you see this in two different ways. And one usage is you are basically just being more polite. So, 시 can be found, or 세요 can be found in many set greeting phrases, like 안녕하세요, 어서 오세요, things like that. You're basically being more polite. And another kind of usage for 세요 is a command, an imperative sentence. So, instead of saying 앉아 or 앉아요, 앉으세요 is much more polite, much more formal. 앉으세요. 조심해 would be 반말. Be careful, watch out. And you can say, 조심하세요. Be careful. The same meaning, but a little more polite. Well, sometimes a lot more polite and a lot more formal. 세요. So, you will see many Korean sentences ending in 세요. So, today we looked at eight different sentence endings in the Korean language. Of course, there are many, many more and many more sentence patterns that we can talk about in the future. So, if you've noticed some sentence endings that are commonly used in Korean sentences by Korean speakers, please let us know in the comments so that we can cover them in a future video like this one. And what do you think about the format of this video? Would you like more videos like this one, somewhat lengthy but more detailed? Or would you like to make more concise, short, bite-sized videos? Let us know and we will see you in the next video. 감사합니다. Bye!