Korean Pronouns: The 3+ Easy Types

Original blog post: https://ling-app.com/ko/korean-pronouns/

Are you interested in learning Korean pronouns and their conjugations? Fortunately, you can learn Korean pronouns quickly as it is not as complicated as the rules in other foreign languages. This blog has all the information that you need about Korean pronouns, so let’s dive in! This blog will walk you through all the types of pronouns in the Korean language and teach you how to use each of them to spice up your language skills.

Korean Grammar

Pronouns play a massive role in Korean grammar since they are used to talking about someone without knowing much about them. However, the role is limited because in grammar (colloquial and oral mostly), Koreans tend to form sentences without using pronouns. They do not always need pronouns in order to refer to someone.

Shocking right? And you might wonder, “How do they know what/ whom the people are talking about?” Well, the answer is short and straightforward: “context.” The context of a sentence helps Korean people know who/ what they are talking about.

For example, when we say “she did that” in a group of people, everyone gets whom we are talking about, right? That’s all because of the context. Context is the situation that is taking place at a certain time and can be used as a reference to get the entire story/ picture. The Korean language is majorly based on the context. There are many things that they omit or add to their sentences based solely upon the contexts. Nevertheless, it is equally important to know and use Korean pronouns where needed.

Polite Form

Before diving into the complexities of the Korean language, it is important to know that, unlike the English language, there are different ways to address people. Polite ways and non-polite ways are a part of spoken Korean culture. Native speakers use polite speech (formal language) while speaking to individuals of a higher position professionally (boss, lawyer, etc.) and culturally (mother, grandfather, etc.). These are present in both written form and spoken form.

Korean Personal Pronouns

There are three main types of Korean personal pronouns and which include first-person pronouns, second-person pronouns, and third-person. These three types have both singular and plural forms. The first-person pronouns give an idea about the person talking in a certain conversation: “I” a person is talking about people with them, then they can use “we.”

Second-person pronoun means the pronoun which is used to refer to the person that one is talking to, which is “you” in English for both singular and plural. The third-person pronoun is used to talk about someone or something which is not present in the moment. For instance, he, she, it, etc.

First-Person Pronouns

There are two ways to talk about oneself in singular pronouns first-person, 저 (jeo) and 나 (na). These are the two most commonly used words. The first one, 저 (jeo), is a formal tone pronoun. This means that while talking to anyone with whom you are supposed to use honorifics and polite manners, then you should use 저 (jeo).

나 (an), on the other hand, needs to be used while talking to someone who is close to you, younger than you, or the same age as you. This is an informal pronoun that should never be used with older people and strangers (especially your age or older) since it can offend them.

In first-person plural pronouns, two words are used 저희 (jeo hui) and 우리 (u ri). The first pronoun 저희 (jeohui) is the polite form of the pronoun while the second 우리 (uri) one is the informal form.

Second Person Pronouns

In the second-person form, there are two words in Korean: 당신 (dang sin) and 그대 (geudae). It is used to refer to the person/ persons spoken to and has different forms (both formal and informal).

To talk to someone in a polite way or formal tone in Korean, 당신 (dangsin) is the most common word used by Korean speakers. Another formal word for “you” is 그대 (geudae). This word is not as common as 당신 (dangsin), and there are very few people who use this word. Mostly the use of 그대 (geudae) can only be found in songs or poetry.

While talking informally to someone, 그쪽(geujjog) and 너 (neo) are used. There are different arguments about which one to use in what situations. The other Korean pronoun for second-person 너 (neo) is usually widely accepted and generally heard while talking to someone informally in Korean.

However, if you do not know someone and are not sure if you can already use the informal tone, then 그쪽(geujjog) is the best option for you. Since it is polite and can be used for people around your age or even younger, these are the second-person singular forms.

To make the second person plural form of each word, you can add 들 (deul) for formal and 희/ 네 (hui/ ne) for informal. So according to this rule 당신 (dangsin) and 그대 (geudae) will become 당신들 (dangsin-deul) and 그대들 (geudae-deul).

With the same rule applied, 너 (neo) becomes 너네 (neo ne) and 너희(neo hui) and both can be used for informal. These can be roughly translated to you guys or ya’ll. All of these have the same meaning but different use.

Note* Among married couples, it is seen that the pronoun 당신 (dangsin) is used to be polite with each other and show a nice, kind, and loving gesture. So if you plan to marry a Korean person, make sure to learn all about this pronoun.

Third Person Pronouns

There are three most common third-person singular pronouns: 그 (geu), 그녀 (geunyeo), and 그것 (geugeos). The first on 그 (geu) is used to address a male third person i.e he. 그녀 (geunyeo) is used to talk about a female third-person singular i.e she. 그것 (geugeos) is used for any object/ animal that a person is talking about i.e it.

The terms for the plural of third-person forms are 그들 (geudeul) and 그녀들 (geunyeodeul). The first one, 그들 (geudeul), is used to refer to a group of males while the second one, 그녀들 (geunyeodeul), is used to refer to a group of females.

Korean Interrogative Pronouns

There are different Korean interrogative pronouns that can be used to ask questions. Here is a table that provides a guide to those pronouns. Here is a table with the most common Korean question words/ interrogative pronouns:

To learn more about them, please check out our blog on Korean question words.

Other Words

You might be wondering how you can talk politely about someone without taking their name and using the words you, he and she, etc. Here are some ways that you can do it.

씨 (Ssi)/ 님 (Nim)

In Korea, it is common to refer to someone by a certain title or name that they have. There are two words that can be used in this regard 씨 (ssi) and 님 (nim).

There is a difference when it comes to the usage of these two terms. The 씨 (ssi) is used when you are referring to someone (or talking about someone) using their name. For instance, if you know a person names 김남준 (gimnamjun), you can call them 김남준 씨 (gimnamjun ssi). This only shows that you are giving them some respect.

The second-word 님 (nim) is used when you are talking to someone (or talking about someone) using their job/ occupation title. For instance, you could be talking to a lawyer and use the words 변호사님(byeonhosanim). 님 (nim) is a level higher than 씨 (ssi) in honorifics.

It is important to use the formal tone/ polite tone with people while talking to them using 씨 (ssi) and 님 (nim) because these are two honorifics.

Using Kinship Terms

In Korea, people are connected to each other. They give extreme importance to the relations among each other, and this is an Asian phenomenon since most Asian countries tend to do this. While going to a market/ other places, people tend to address each other using various kinship terms, e.g., brother, uncle, aunt, etc.

Here is a table for you to remember some common kinship terms to refer to someone in an informal or even slightly formal setting:

Adding 님 (nim) to 형 (hyeong) makes it more formal.

Subject Pronouns

The subject pronouns in Korean are not the same as other pronouns. There are two ways to write each pronoun: in the form of subject and in the form of topic. Subject in a Korean sentence is written at the start of the sentence. It is usually marked with a topic marker “이/가” or a subject marker “은/는” with the nouns as subject to be specific.

Here is a table for you to learn all the pronouns as the topic of the sentence as well as the subject of the sentence:

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are those pronouns that represent a sense of belonging. For instance, my, his her, etc in English. There are specific words that represent the state of belonging in Korean. In Korean grammar, possessive pronouns are called 소유 대명사 (soyu daemyeongsa).

There is a simple rule in Korean to turn all the pronouns into possessive pronouns. It is to add 것/ 꺼 (geos/ kkeo) after any pronoun. The word 것 (geos) roughly translates to “thing” in English. Adding 것 (geos) indicates that this thing is mine.

You have already learned how to use 씨 (ssi)/ 님 (nim), this step involved adding 것 (geos) to make that a possessive pronoun. Taking the previous example, 김남준 씨 것 (gimnamjun ssi geos) will mean “Mr. Kimnamjun’s”. Similarly 변호사님 것 (byeonhosanim geos) will mean “Lawyer’s”.

The difference between 것 and 꺼 (geos and kkeo) is that 것 (geos) is used at an informal level as compared to 꺼 (kkeo) which is used mostly for formal situations. Using these roughly translates the possession to “mine, yours, etc.)

Adding 의(ui) turns a prooun into its possessive form. But you would not always see some words written with 의(ui), like 내 (nae). The reason behind that is that those words are shortened to avoid having redundancy.

저의 (jeo-ui) is shortened to 제 (jae), 나의 (na-ui) is shortened to 내 (nae), 너의 (neo-ui) is shortened to 니 (ni), 저희의 becomes 저희 (jeo-hui) and finally, 우리의 (u-ri-ui) becomes 우리(uri)

Here is a table with all the Korean words that you need to know about while referring to something of someone:

K-Pop Corner

Here is a table with some lines from K-pop for you to learn pronouns:

In songs, people tend to use the informal form of Korean pronouns

Ready To Learn Korean?

For more Korean lessons, feel free to check out other blogs on Ling App by Simya Solutions. We also have blogs on Korean prepositions and directions in Korean. You can learn a lot about different languages both by downloading the application and checking the website.