G3.2 Honorific ending ~(으)세요

Examples  

(1)	스티브:	뭐 하세요?
	린다:	아침 먹어요.
(2)	린다:	요즘 어떻게 지내세요?
	스티브:	잘 지내요.
(3)	린다:	스티브씨, 앉으세요.
		참, 인사하세요. 제 친구예요.

~(으)세요 is an honorific form of ~어요/아요. It is a combination of the honorific marker ~(으)시 and ~어요, that is,

~(으)시 + 어요 = ~(으)세요
~(으)세요(after a consonant)			~세요(after a vowel)
좋 앉 읽	으세요 으세요 으세요	지내 아 인사하		세요 세요 세요

When the person being talked about is respected by the speaker:

(A and B are talking about Prof. Lee.)

A: 이 선생님은 안녕하세요? How's Prof. Lee?

B: 안녕하세요. He is fine.

Prof. Lee is respected by both A and B. So in their discussion of Prof. Lee, they use the ~(으)세요 ending.

When the person being talked about does not need to be honored:

(Linda and Sandy are talking about their mutual friend Steve.)

샌디: 스티브는 뭐 공부해요? What does Steve study?

린다: 한국어 공부해요. He studies Korean.

스티브 is their mutual friend, so no honorific reference is necessary in reference to 스티브, and thus the non-honorific ~어요/아요 ending is used.

When asking about the listener to whom you show respect:

In the examples (1)-(2), the first speaker is asking a question concerning the listener. In showing his or her respect for the listener, the ¡(으)세요 ending is used. In response, however, now the statement is about the second speaker himself or herself. Therefore, the non-honorific ¡¾î¿ä ending is used. For another example:

샌디: 선생님, 요즘 어떻게 지내세요? How have you been lately?

선생님: 잘 지내요.

샌디 asks a professor how he is, and uses the ¡(으)세요 ending, showing her respect for the professor. In response, the professor uses the non-honorific ~어요/아요, because the statement is about himself/herself.

Note that the greeting 안녕하세요? is asking about the listener's well-being. It conventionally takes ~(으)세요 to show respect to the other person.

Requesting an action:

Requesting an action typically takes the form of ~(으)세요 to show respect for the listener, as in (3) in the examples.

Dictionary Form	어요/아요	∼(으)세요
가다 앉다 알다 지내다 하다 인사하다	가요 않아요 알아요 지내요 해요 인사해요	가세요 앉으세요 아세요 지내세요 하세요 인사하세요
-이다 괜찮다 좋다	-이에요 괜찮아요 좋아요	-이세요 하세요 괜찮으세요 좋으세요

[연습] Provide answers that are appropriate for the given contexts. Use ~어요/아요 and ~(으)세요 properly.

보기:

A: 뭐 하세요?

B: 아침 먹어요.

(1) The following questions are addressed to you. Answer the questions.

학생이세요? ______________________________________

한국어 공부하세요? _______________________________

한국사람이세요? __________________________________

일학년이세요? ____________________________________

(2) Talking about Prof. Lee

A: __________________________________? 'Is Prof. Lee Korean?'

B: 네, 한국사람이세요. 'Yes, he is Korean.'

(3) 스티브: 샌디씨, _______________________________?

샌디: 잘 지내요. 스티브씨는 어떻게 지내세요?

스티브: _______________________________________.

뭐 공부하세요? 'What are you studying?'

샌디: ____________________________ 'I am studying Korean.'