09/01/2023
⛩️ADDRESSING PEOPLE IN FORMAL WAY IN KOREAN⛩️
The following are some of the most commonly used words in Korean in which you can find the suffix -님. Many of these words are FIXED, which means they CAN’T be used WITHOUT the suffix -님. And some of them CAN be used without -님, but the nuance can change.
🍁1. 선생님 [seon-saeng-nim] = teacher
— Almost always used with -님 attached. If you only say 선생, you may sound disrespectful. 선생님 is used both when you address a teacher directly and when you talk about a teacher whenhe or she is not present.
🍁2. 장님 [ jang-nim] = a blind person
— Some people think it’s more appropriate to use the term 시각장애인 (visually handicapped person), but the word 장님 is still very commonly used and you can NOT use the word without -님 attached.
🍁3. 의사선생님 [ui-sa-seon-saeng-nim] = doctor
— The job itself is 의사 [ui-sa] but when you address and talk to a doctor, you can not call him/her “의사”. You need to use the word 의사선생님.
🍁4.교수님 [gyo-su-num] = professor
—The job itself is 교수 [gyo-su] but when you talk to a professor, you need to put the suffix -님 and call that person “NAME + 교수님” or just “교수님”.
🍁5.어머님 [eo-meo-nim] = mother
— You can call your own mother 엄마 [eom-ma] or 어머니 [eo-meo-ni] if you want to be more polite, but when you refer to someone else’s mother in a polite way or even your own in the most formal way, you use the word 어머님. It is not natural, however, to use the term 어머님, to talk about your own mother to someone else. In that case, 저희 어머니 [jeo-hui eo-meo-ni], “my mother”, is better.
🍁6. 아버님 [a-beo-nim] = father
—The same with 어머님. You can call your own father 아빠 [a-ppa] or 아버지 [a-beo-ji], and the most formal term is 아버님 [a-beo-nim]
@everyone
