In the last post we saw some different people you might talk to, and the terms formal, informal, familiar. Remember who we might use them with?
Today, we're going to look at the actual endings
The most general ending which foreigners use is -요-yo. This is generally used in informal and familiar situations. So you would use it with your friends, family and when chatting to strangers.
Remember the base form of verbs? BasicallyThis is the very basic rule, verbs actually change a little
depending on the stem, but here these are just examples.
If you want the exact rules go to the links section Just drop the -다-da depending on the verb add -아-/-어--a-/-eo- and then the -요-yo.
- 사랑 하다sarang-hada / to love becomes 사랑 해요sarang he-yo / I love you
- 먹다meogda / to eat becomes 먹어요meog-eo-yo / I eat
This ending is generally taught as the default ending to students, because it cant be offensive to anyone. But with children, it is inappropriate. Why? well that's because with this ending, you are putting yourself lower than the person you're speaking to.
On the Korean scale of life, children are lower. Imagine being the king and bowing to a random kid who walks into your castle? It's pretty much the same thing when you use -요-yo with a child.
But when you use it with a stranger or someone the same age, and they use it back you are both on the same level because essentially you're bowing to each otehr. Imagine a disgusting lovey-dovey couple saying "I love you" / "no I love you more" back and forth to each other. When you use -요-yo you're saying "I respect you" / "no, I respect you" back and forth to each other. The point being in the first sentence "my love is equal" and the second example "our respect is equal".
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