Korean Nouns and Pronouns - Second Person Reference

Second Person Reference

Korean has a tu-vous distinction in the second person. Neo (너) is the pronoun corresponding to French tu, but instead of a single equivalent to vous/usted, a variety of strategies are used. More specifically:

• Leaving out the subject of the sentence if it can be implied by the context. In English, sentences need explicit subjects, but this is not so in conversational Korean.
• Using the person's name when talking to someone younger than yourself. With people older than you, it is custom to use either a title or kinship term (see next point).
• Using a kinship term: 언니 (eonni, "older sister" if speaker is female), 누나 (nuna, "older sister" if speaker is male), 오빠 (oppa, "older brother" if speaker is female), 형 (hyeong, "older brother" if speaker is male), 아줌마 (ajumma, "middle aged woman"), 아주머니 (ajumeoni, also "middle aged woman" but more polite), 아저씨 (ajeossi, "middle aged man"), 할머니 (halmeoni, "grandmother") of 할아버지 (harabeoji, "grandfather"). In Korea it is common to use kinship terms for people who are not family at all. The term 아가씨 (agassi, "young lady") is preferable when addressing a young girl of unknown age. It is mostly seen used in public places like restaurants. But it will also sometimes be used by men in pick-up lines. By definition, the actual difference between 아가씨 and 아줌마 reside in marriage status and not age.
• Using the appropriate title, usually ending in -nim e.g. seonsaengnim ( 선생님, "teacher", although it is also often used as a general honorific term for other professions like managers etc.) or gwajangnim (과장님 "director"), etc.
• Using the plural yeoreobun (여러분, "ladies and gentlemen") where applicable.

If none of these are possible, an honorific common noun, e.g. dangsin (당신, "said body") or jane (자네, "oneself") (used for "you" in the familiar speech level). The pseudo-pronoun dangsin is actually a noun, from the Sino-Korean loanword 當身 "the aforementioned body". There are a large number of such pseudo-pronouns in Korean.

These methods are ambiguous, that is, they can indicate a third person as well as a second person. In order for an honorific noun to be interpreted as a second person pronoun, it must agree with the speech level of the verb - that is, the level of respect used must be consistent throughout the sentence. Korean verbs reflect the social status of the person being spoken to, so if that same person or group of people listening is also mentioned in the sentence, neither reference should be higher than the other. A lowly noun used with a high speech level, or an honorific noun used with a low speech level, can only be interpreted as a third person pronoun.

For example, jane is used for "you" in the familiar speech level, and is appropriate only as long as the familiar speech level itself is. The familiar speech level is used to talk in a friendly way to close friends and family who are younger or subordinate. In situations where that speech level would be inappropriate or insulting, jane is too.

Even when the pronoun used and the speech level agree, there is still some possible ambiguity, but this can be resolved by context.