높임 어휘Korean Honorific Words and the 시 Infix
Korean honours the person it is talking about in two ways: one infix that attaches to any verb in the language, and about fifteen words that are replaced outright. 읽다 becomes 읽으세요 by rule; 자다 becomes 주무세요 because it is a different word.
Both are here, with the 47 honorific links the 국립국어원 dictionary carries underneath — and the distinction between 계시다 and 있으시다, which is the mistake this page exists to fix.
- 높임말 쌍Pairs in the dictionary
- 47
- 꼭 알아야 할 것Pairs you actually need
- 14
- 객체 높임Object honorific verbs
- 4
- -(으)시-Verbs it attaches to
- All
-(으)시-One infix honours every verb in the language
Stem, then 시, then everything else. The tense and the ending go outside it.
Korean does not have an honorific vocabulary the way Japanese does. It has about fifteen replacement words and one infix, and the infix does the other 99%: put -(으)시- between the stem and the ending and the sentence now honours its subject. 읽다 → 읽으시다 → 읽으세요.
The 으 is the usual 받침 buffer — it appears after a consonant and not after a vowel — and the irregular stems behave exactly as they do everywhere else, because 시 begins with a consonant and triggers the same changes any consonant ending does. That is why 살다 comes out 사세요 with the ㄹ gone.
Two fusions are worth memorising as whole forms rather than derived ones: -시- + -어요 → -세요 and -시- + -었- → -셨-. Every honorific sentence you hear is built out of those two.
| Verb | -(으)세요 polite | -(으)십니다 formal | -(으)셨- past | What the stem does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 가다 | 가세요 | 가십니다 | 가셨어요 | Vowel stem — 시 attaches straight on. |
| 먹다 | 먹으세요 | 먹으십니다 | 먹으셨어요 | 받침 stem — 으 has to go in first. |
| 살다 | 사세요 | 사십니다 | 사셨어요 | ㄹ drops before 시. 살시다 does not exist. |
| 듣다 | 들으세요 | 들으십니다 | 들으셨어요 | ㄷ becomes ㄹ, then 으시. |
| 춥다 | 추우세요 | 추우십니다 | 추우셨어요 | ㅂ becomes 우, and adjectives take 시 too. |
| 하다 | 하세요 | 하십니다 | 하셨어요 | The commonest stem in the language. |
Generated by the site's own conjugation engine, which is checked against the 국립국어원 dictionary's recorded forms on every test run — the same engine behind 3,698 full conjugation tables. The infix has its own grammar entry: -으시-, as does -으세요.
주체 높임 어휘The words that change instead
A handful of verbs and nouns do not take 시 — they are replaced outright.
| 예사말 Plain | 높임말 Honorific | Meaning | When to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 있다 | 계시다 | to be, to stay | Only when 있다 means the person is PRESENT. 선생님 계세요? — is the teacher in? |
| 있다 | 있으시다 | to have | When 있다 means possession, honour the thing, not the person: 시간 있으세요? |
| 먹다마시다 | 드시다 | to eat, to drink | One honorific covers both. 잡수시다 is a rung higher and sounds elderly. |
| 자다 | 주무시다 | to sleep | 안녕히 주무세요 — the standard goodnight. |
| 죽다 | 돌아가시다 | to die | Obligatory of anyone's family. 죽다 of a person you are speaking to is brutal. |
| 말하다 | 말씀하시다 | to speak | 말씀 is also the humble word for your own speech — 말씀 드릴게요. |
| 아프다 | 편찮으시다 | to be ill | Of an elder. 아프시다 is used but weaker. |
| 밥 | 진지 | meal | 진지 드세요 — mostly to the very elderly now. |
| 나이 | 연세 | age | 연세가 어떻게 되세요? — the only polite way to ask. |
| 이름성명 | 성함 | name | 성함이 어떻게 되세요? at any counter. |
| 집 | 댁 | house, home | 댁이 어디세요? Also 'you' to an older stranger. |
| 생일 | 생신 | birthday | Of grandparents and parents-in-law. |
| 사람 | 분 | person | Counting people politely: 세 분 — three people. |
| 말 | 말씀 | words, speech | Honorific of someone else's, humble of yours. |
The first two rows are one word split in two, and it is the commonest honorific mistake there is. 계시다 is 있다 meaning be present; 있으시다 is 있다 meaning have. 선생님 계세요? asks whether the teacher is in. 선생님, 시간 있으세요? asks whether the teacher has a moment.
간접 높임Honouring what belongs to them
The rule behind 있으시다, and the reason cafés get it wrong.
You cannot raise an object, but you can raise a person through one. When the subject of the sentence is something belonging to an honoured person — their time, their words, their eyes, their opinion — the verb still takes -(으)시-, and the honour lands on the owner. 선생님은 눈이 크세요. That is 간접 높임, indirect honorification, and it is the only case where 시 attaches to a verb whose subject is not a person.
The test is ownership. 시간, 말씀, 의견, 연세, 댁 all belong to someone, so 시 is right. A cup of coffee belongs to nobody, so 커피 나오셨습니다 is not indirect honorification but a mistake — 사물 존칭, which 국립국어원 has been asking shops to stop using for years.
One more that trips up advanced learners: 말씀이 계시겠습니다 is wrong for the same reason. The speech is not a person, so it takes the indirect form — 말씀이 있으시겠습니다.
객체 높임Four verbs that change for whoever the action lands on
Not the speaker, not the listener — the object. English has no equivalent at all.
| 예사말 Plain | 높임말 Honorific | Meaning | When to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 주다 | 드리다 | to give | Whenever the receiver outranks you — and the particle moves with it: 께, not 한테. |
| 보다만나다 | 뵙다뵈다 | to see, to meet | 뵙다 is the stiffer of the two and is what you say on parting or in writing. |
| 묻다 | 여쭙다여쭈다 | to ask | Asking a teacher, a manager or anyone's parents. 여쭤보다 is the everyday shape. |
| 데리다 | 모시다 | to bring, to accompany | Also "to look after" — 부모님을 모시고 산다 is living with and caring for them. |
선생님께 선물을 드렸어요.
I gave the teacher a present.
내일 뵙겠습니다.
I'll see you tomorrow.
하나 여쭤봐도 될까요?
May I ask you something?
부모님을 모시고 갔어요.
I went, bringing my parents.
The particle moves with the verb. 께 replaces 에게 and 한테 on the honoured recipient, exactly as 께서 replaces 이 and 가 on an honoured subject.
겸양어Lowering yourself
The other direction, and the one that is obligatory rather than optional.
| 예사말 Plain | 겸양어 Humble | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 나 | 저 | I | Used with everyone but close friends. 제가, not 내가. |
| 우리 | 저희 | we, our | 저희 회사, 저희 팀 — but never 저희 나라. |
| 주다 | 드리다 | to give | Also the auxiliary: 도와 드릴까요? |
| 말 | 말씀 | what I have to say | 말씀 드리다 — the one word that is both. |
저 is not modesty, it is grammar: with a stranger, a customer, a teacher or an interviewer, 나 is the marked, blunt choice. The dictionary also lists 6 humble pairs of its own — 우리 → 저희 among them.
사전 전체Every honorific link in the dictionary — all 47
The 국립국어원 data's own 높임말 relations, grouped by what you have to do with each.
동사Verbs 9
No shared stem, no derivation — a different word for the same action.
명사Nouns 15
The everyday word and the word used of someone you respect.
- 앞전 front TOPIK 1
- 남편서방님 husband TOPIK 1
- 밥진지 cooked rice TOPIK 1
- 나이연세 age TOPIK 2
- 주인주인장 owner TOPIK 1
- 주인주인어른 owner TOPIK 1
- 오빠오라버니 older brother (of a female) TOPIK 1
- 임금상감 wages, pay TOPIK 4
- 병병환 disease TOPIK 1
- 제사제향 ancestral rite TOPIK 4
- 성명성함 name, full name TOPIK 3
- 승려선사 buddhist monk TOPIK 6
- 과부과수댁 widow TOPIK 6
- 외갓집외가댁 one's mother's maiden home TOPIK 4
- 장인장인어른 father-in-law (wife's father) TOPIK 4
조사Particles 6
Three forms that mark the honoured person in the grammar itself.
- 가께서 nominative case marker TOPIK 1
- 에게께 to (dative particle) TOPIK 1
- 여시여 post-vowel allomorphic form of -이여 (-iyeo, “O”, exclamatory vocative particle) TOPIK 1
- 이께서 nominative case particle for nouns ending in consonants TOPIK 1
- 이여이시여 vocative particle used to address someone or something TOPIK 1
- 한테께 to (a person) TOPIK 1
-님 / -댁The 님 suffix 17
A rule rather than a list: attach 님 and the word is honorific.
- 어머니어머님 mother TOPIK 1
- 아버지아버님 father TOPIK 1
- 손손님 hand TOPIK 1
- 할머니할머님 grandmother TOPIK 1
- 부모부모님 parents TOPIK 3
- 할아버지할아버님 grandfather TOPIK 1
- 형형님 older brother TOPIK 1
- 주인주인님 owner TOPIK 1
- 누나누님 older sister of a male TOPIK 1
- 부처부처님 Buddha TOPIK 4
- 영감영감님 old man TOPIK 6
- 과부과부댁 widow TOPIK 6
- 고모부고모부님 father's sister's husband TOPIK 4
- 장모장모님 mother-in-law TOPIK 4
- 외숙모외숙모님 wife of one's maternal uncle TOPIK 3
- 외가외가댁 mom`s home, mom`s side of the family TOPIK 4
- 작은집작은댁 TOPIK 3
This is the complete list, not a selection, which is why most of it is literary: 상감 for a king and 제향 for a memorial rite are in the dictionary and will not be in your life. The pairs worth learning are in the tables above; these are here so that a word you meet in a novel or a sageuk can be looked up rather than guessed at.
다음Where to go next
자주 묻는 질문Common questions
What does 시 mean in Korean verbs?
-(으)시- is the honorific infix. It goes between the stem and the ending and raises the subject of the sentence — the person being talked about, not the person being talked to. 가다 → 가시다 → 가세요. It attaches to any verb or adjective in the language, which is why fifteen honorific words plus one infix cover the whole system.
What is the difference between 계시다 and 있으시다?
They are the honorific forms of two different 있다. 계시다 is 있다 meaning "be present": 선생님 계세요? — is the teacher in? 있으시다 is 있다 meaning "have": 시간 있으세요? — do you have time? The rule behind it is that you cannot honour a thing directly, so when the subject is the teacher's time rather than the teacher, the honour goes on 있다 as an ordinary -(으)시- and the suppletive word is not used.
Why do people say 커피 나오셨습니다?
Habit, and over-correction. It is 사물 존칭 — honouring an object — and 국립국어원 advises against it: the coffee is not a person, so 커피 나왔습니다 is correct. You will nonetheless hear it in every café and shop in Korea, because service language has drifted, and you will not be corrected for using the correct version.
When do I use 드리다 instead of 주다?
When the person receiving is someone you would honour. 드리다 is 객체 높임 — it changes because of the object of the sentence, not the subject or the listener. 친구한테 줬어요 but 선생님께 드렸어요, said by the same person to the same listener. The particle moves with it: 에게/한테 becomes 께.
Is 저 or 나 correct for I?
저 with anyone you are not close to, 나 with close friends and people clearly junior to you. 저 is 겸양어 — it lowers you, which raises the other person by contrast — and it takes 제가 as its subject form, not 내가. The plural works the same way: 저희 for 우리, except in 우리나라, which never becomes 저희 나라.
Word pairs, definitions and example sentences from the 국립국어원 한국어기초사전, used under CC BY-SA 2.0 KR.