Respect and Recipients -(으)시-

Your grandmother made a gift, and you are telling a friend about it. Respect for the person doing the action belongs inside the verb; “only to me” and “to me too” belong on the recipient.

Respect the Person Doing It

Insert -(으)시- before the ending to honour the subject: 가시다, 읽으시다. In polite present speech this often becomes -세요; in the past, -(으)셨어요. With ㄹ stems, drop ㄹ: 만들다 → 만드시다. Adjectives also take it, as in 바쁘세요, and nouns use -(이)세요, as in 선생님이세요. Some everyday verbs have special respectful forms, such as 계시다 for 있다 and 드시다 for 먹다.

Only to Someone, to Someone Too

Add 만 or 도 after 에게: 저에게만, 친구에게도. The spoken equivalents are 한테만 and 한테도. The respectful recipient particle is 께, as in 선생님께도. These particles describe who receives something, rather than who deserves -(으)시-.

Vocabulary