Last time I discussed how Korean society used to be caste dominated and how each caste had their own "language" which became part of modern Korean with the arrival of democracy. But even with democracy, Korean society and language continued to be layered.
That's right, it's still layered by age. So you still need all the polite and respectful duplicate words to talk to older people. And older people need to use all the duplicate words to talk down to younger people. Not to mention all the words they use to talk amongst themselves!
Old people, who do not have so much contact with popular culture, use old words for things which young people would use English words for nowadays. Young and old people alike will use special words and phrases, on purpose, in order to show their age and status. And this is another reason why Korean has so many words.
If you want to talk to older or more important people than you, here are the most common polite forms (honorific or humilific) of normal words:
- 자다ja-da / sleep - > 주무시다ju-mu-shida / honorific of sleep
- 있다itt-da / there is, stay, be -> 계시다gye-shida / honorific of there is, stay, be
- 아프다a-peu-da / it hurts -> 편찮으시다pyeon-chan-eu-shi-da / honorific of it hurts
- 죽다juk-da / to die -> 돌아가시다do-ra-ga-shi-da / honorific of to die
- 주다juda / give -> 드리다deu-ri-da / humilific of give
- 데리다dae-ri-da / give someone a lift -> 모시다mo-shi-da / humilific of give someone a lift
- 만나다man-na-da / meet -> 뵙다bwep-da / humilific of meet
- 밥bap / rice -> 진지jin-ji / honorific of rice
- 집jip / house -> 댁dek / honorific of house
- 이름i-reum / name -> 성함seong-ham / honorific of name
- 나이na-i / age -> 연세yeon-sae / honorific of age
- 안내an-ne / wife -> 부인bu-in / honorific of wife
- 말mal / word -> 말씀mal-sseum / honorific of word
- 사람/명saram/myeong / person -> 분bun / honorific of person
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