To make a Korean verb honorific, the default machinery is the infix -(으)시-: 가다 → 가시다, 읽다 → 읽으시다. But the handful of verbs you use most every day — eating, sleeping, being, dying — refuse that machinery. They have whole-word replacements you simply memorize, and eating is the one you will need on day one, every time you host or are hosted. The polite "please eat" is not ×먹으세요; it is 드세요. This page teaches 드시다 and its more formal cousin 잡수시다.
Why not just add -시- to 먹다?
You can mechanically build 먹으시다 from 먹다, and grammars will tell you it is not strictly ungrammatical — but native speakers avoid it because 먹다 is an earthy, blunt verb ("to feed one's face"), and dressing something that plain in an honorific infix sounds off. So the language reaches for a different, inherently more genteel verb instead: 드시다. Think of it the way English swaps "eat" for "dine" or "have" in polite invitations — you don't say "please eat a lot," you say "please, help yourself." (For the general logic of when -(으)시- applies and when a suppletive word takes over, see the subject honorific -(으)시-.)
많이 드세요.
mani deuseyo
Please, help yourself. (lit. eat a lot)
식기 전에 어서 드세요.
sikgi jeone eoseo deuseyo
Go ahead and eat before it gets cold.
뭐 드시겠어요?
mwo deusigesseoyo
What would you like to have?
많이 드세요 is what a host says at the start of nearly every Korean meal — learn it as a fixed phrase before you learn anything else on this page.
드시다 covers drinking too
Here is the efficiency English speakers miss: 드시다 is not only "eat." It politely replaces 마시다 (drink) as well. Where plain speech distinguishes 먹다 and 마시다, honorific speech folds both into 드시다 — you offer coffee, water, tea, or medicine all with 드세요. (Medicine, in fact, is 약을 먹다 in plain Korean and 약을 드시다 when honorific; Korean "takes" medicine by "eating" it.)
따뜻할 때 커피 드세요.
ttatteutal ttae keopi deuseyo
Have your coffee while it's warm.
물 좀 드세요.
mul jom deuseyo
Have some water.
약은 식사 후에 드세요.
yageun siksa hue deuseyo
Take the medicine after meals.
잡수시다: the higher register for elders
Above 드시다 sits 잡수시다 (잡수세요), an older, weightier honorific reserved for eating (not drinking) and used chiefly for the elderly — a grandparent, a great-aunt, a very senior guest. It pairs naturally with the honorific meal-noun 진지 (the elevated word for "a meal / rice"; see 진지: the honorific for a meal).
할아버지께서 진지를 잡수세요.
harabeojikkeseo jinjireul japsuseyo
Grandfather is eating his meal.
어서 잡수세요. 국 식겠어요.
eoseo japsuseyo. guk sikgesseoyo
Please, do eat. The soup will get cold.
In everyday life 드시다 is the safe, universal choice; 잡수시다 is a notch more traditional and deferential, most at home when addressing or describing the oldest generation. A younger colleague or a customer gets 드세요, not 잡수세요 — reserving 잡수시다 for elders is part of what makes it feel respectful rather than stiff.
Matching honorific nouns to honorific verbs
Honorification in Korean tends to travel in sets: an honored subject wants an honorific particle (께서), an honorific noun (진지 for meal), and an honorific verb (드시다 / 잡수시다). Mixing an honorific noun with a plain verb — 진지 먹어요 — jars, because you have raised the noun and then dropped the verb. Keep the whole clause on one level.
할머니, 진지 드셨어요?
halmeoni, jinji deusyeosseoyo
Grandma, have you eaten (your meal)?
손님들 다 오시면 같이 드세요.
sonnimdeul da osimyeon gachi deuseyo
Once all the guests arrive, please eat together.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Adding -시- to 먹다 for a superior. ×먹으세요 is avoided; use 드세요.
❌ 선생님, 많이 먹으세요.
Avoided — 먹다 is too blunt to honorify with -시-.
✅ 선생님, 많이 드세요.
seonsaengnim, mani deuseyo
Please eat a lot, teacher.
Mistake 2: Pairing the honorific noun 진지 with the plain verb 먹다. Raise the whole clause, not half of it.
❌ 할아버지 진지 먹어요.
Clash — honorific noun 진지 with plain 먹어요.
✅ 할아버지 진지 드세요.
harabeoji jinji deuseyo
Grandpa, please eat your meal.
Mistake 3: Honoring your OWN eating. 드시다 / 잡수시다 elevate others. Speaking of yourself, use plain 먹다.
❌ 저는 벌써 드셨어요.
Wrong — you don't honor your own eating.
✅ 저는 벌써 먹었어요.
jeoneun beolsseo meogeosseoyo
I've already eaten.
Mistake 4: Using plain 먹다/마시다 to offer a drink to a guest. Offer with 드세요.
❌ 뭐 마실래요?
Casual — too flat for a senior guest.
✅ 뭐 드시겠어요?
mwo deusigesseoyo
What would you like to drink?
Key Takeaways
- Korean does not honorify 먹다 with -시- (×먹으세요); it swaps in the suppletive 드시다 (드세요).
- 드시다 covers eating AND drinking — and "taking" medicine (약을 드세요).
- 잡수시다 (잡수세요) is a higher register for eating, aimed at the elderly, and pairs with the noun 진지.
- Honorification travels in sets: 께서 + 진지 + 드시다/잡수시다 — don't leave a plain verb under a raised noun.
- Never honor your own eating; that stays plain 먹다.
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Start learning Korean→Related Topics
- 계시다: To Be Present (Honorific) — and the 있으시다 SplitTOPIK 2 — 계시다 is the suppletive honorific of 있다 for a person's PRESENCE (선생님이 교실에 계세요, 안녕히 계세요), but 있으시다 is what you use when what 'exists' is a superior's time, question, or child — the split English 'have/be' hides.
- 주무시다: To Sleep (Honorific)TOPIK 2 — 주무시다 is the suppletive honorific of 자다 (sleep), most familiar from the nightly 안녕히 주무세요 ('good night'). Its honorific -시- is built in, so the polite form is simply 주무세요 — never the double-stacked ×주무시세요, and never plain ×자세요 to an elder.
- 진지: The Honorific Word for 밥 (Meal)TOPIK 2 — 진지 is the honorific noun for 밥/식사 — a respected elder's meal — and it shows that Korean honorification lives in NOUNS as well as verbs: a superior's name is 성함 not 이름, their age 연세 not 나이. An honorific noun triggers an honorific verb, so 진지 pairs with 드시다/잡수시다 and never with plain 먹다.
- The Subject Honorific -(으)시-: Honoring the SubjectTOPIK 1 — -(으)시- is the infix that raises the sentence's subject — the person doing the action or holding the state — for respect: -시- after a vowel stem, -으시- after a consonant stem, with ㄹ dropping. Crucially it tracks who the sentence is about, not who you're talking to, so you can honor grandma even in casual speech.