If you learn one honorific ending first, learn -(으)세요. It is the form you will hear a hundred times a day in Korea — from a barista, a bus driver, a shopkeeper, a professor — and it is the polite face of the subject honorific -(으)시- in ordinary conversation. It is also quietly two-faced: the same -(으)세요 is both a gentle request ("please…") and a respectful statement or question about someone. Understanding why one form does both jobs is the key to using it naturally instead of memorizing two unrelated rules.
Where -(으)세요 comes from
-(으)세요 is not a new ending to learn from scratch — it is -(으)시- meeting the polite 해요체 ending -어요 and contracting:
-(으)시- + -어요 → -(으)셔요 → -(으)세요
시 + 어 first fuses into 셔 (giving the older, more formal-literary 하셔요), which then smooths to the modern standard 하세요. So every -(으)세요 is really "honorific -시- + polite -요" welded together. Once you see that, the meaning is transparent: it is the honorific present tense, in the warm polite register.
주말에 보통 뭐 하세요?
jumare botong mwo haseyo
What do you usually do on weekends? (하다 + -시- + -어요 → 하세요)
The allomorphy
Because -(으)세요 carries the -(으)시- infix inside it, it inherits exactly the same stem-based split — plus the ㄹ-drop.
| Stem ends in… | Form | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a vowel | -세요 | 가세요 · 오세요 · 하세요 · 보세요 · 쉬세요 |
| a consonant | -으세요 | 읽으세요 · 앉으세요 · 받으세요 · 입으세요 |
| ㄹ (ㄹ drops) | -세요 | 만들다 → 만드세요 · 열다 → 여세요 · 놀다 → 노세요 |
추우니까 이 옷 입으세요.
chuunikka i ot ibeuseyo
It's cold, so put this on. (입다 → 입으세요, consonant stem)
창문 좀 여세요.
changmun jom yeoseyo
Please open the window. (열다 → 여세요, ㄹ dropped)
One form, two jobs
Here is the double duty. Because -(으)세요 is the honorific present, and Korean's 해요체 collapses statement, question, and command into one shape distinguished by intonation, a single -(으)세요 form covers all three.
Job 1 — a soft request ("please …"):
여기 앉으세요.
yeogi anjeuseyo
Please have a seat here. (request)
천천히 오세요.
cheoncheonhi oseyo
Take your time coming. / Come slowly. (request)
이거 한번 드셔 보세요.
igeo hanbeon deusyeo boseyo
Give this a try. (드시다 'eat' + -어 보다; a warm invitation)
Job 2 — an honorific statement or question about the subject:
어디 가세요?
eodi gaseyo
Where are you going? (honorific question about the listener-as-subject)
아버지께서 신문을 읽으세요.
abeojikkeseo sinmuneul ilgeuseyo
My father is reading the newspaper. (honorific statement about the father)
사장님은 뭐 드세요?
sajangnimeun mwo deuseyo
What is the boss having? (honorific question; the boss is the subject)
Look at 앉으세요 and 가세요 across those two jobs. 앉으세요 can be a command ("please sit") or a statement ("[she] sits, honorably"); 가세요? is a question ("where are you going?") while 가세요 with falling intonation is a request ("please go"). The form never changes. Intonation and situation decide which of the three sentence types you meant.
Why -(으)세요 is not "please"
English hands learners a false friend here. In English, a polite command is built by bolting the separate word please onto an imperative: please sit, please come. Learners then look for the Korean word for "please" and try to slot -(으)세요 into that role — as if it were a dedicated imperative marker.
It isn't. -(으)세요 is not an imperative at all. It is the honorific present tense, and the "please" reading is something context supplies, not something the ending encodes. That is exactly why the same 앉으세요 works as a statement, a question, and a request — an English imperative could never double as a statement, because English marks its imperative differently from its present ("you sit" is not "sit!"). Korean simply doesn't have that split in 해요체: the honorific present, aimed at the listener with command intonation, is the polite request.
The nearest thing Korean has to a stand-alone "please" is 주세요 ("please give / do for me"), which attaches to a preceding -어/아 form — 해 주세요 ("please do it for me"), 도와주세요 ("please help me"). That is a different construction, covered on juseyo — the polite request.
The politeness ladder of commands
Because a request can be pitched at different registers, it helps to see 앉다 ("sit") climb the ladder from intimate to formal. Note the middle rung: bare 해요체 without -시- (앉아요) is grammatical, but as a command it lands as slightly blunt or bossy. Adding -시- (앉으세요) is what makes a request feel genuinely courteous, because it honors the person you are asking.
| Form | Register | As a request, it feels… |
|---|---|---|
| 앉아 | 반말 (intimate) | "sit" — to a close friend or junior |
| 앉아요 | 해요체, no -시- | "sit, please" — polite but a touch direct/bossy |
| 앉으세요 | 해요체 + -시- | "please have a seat" — warm, standard courtesy |
| 앉으십시오 | 합니다체 (formal) | "please be seated" — official, announcements, service |
손님, 이쪽으로 앉으십시오.
sonnim, ijjogeuro anjeusipsio
This way, please be seated, sir/ma'am. (formal -(으)십시오 — the 합니다체 command)
The formal command -(으)십시오 is the top rung; it belongs to 합니다체 and gets its own treatment on -(으)십시오, the formal command. For everyday courtesy, -(으)세요 is the workhorse.
Fixed farewells: 가세요 vs 계세요
Two -(으)세요 phrases are worth memorizing whole, because Korean splits "goodbye" by who is leaving:
안녕히 가세요.
annyeonghi gaseyo
Goodbye. (said to the person who is leaving — lit. 'go in peace')
안녕히 계세요.
annyeonghi gyeseyo
Goodbye. (said to the person who is staying — lit. 'stay in peace'; 계시다 is honorific 'be/stay')
If you are both leaving (parting on the street), you each say 안녕히 가세요. If you leave a shop, you say 안녕히 계세요 (the staff are staying) and they say 안녕히 가세요 (you are going). Two more of the family:
안녕히 주무세요.
annyeonghi jumuseyo
Good night. (sleep well — 주무시다 is honorific 'sleep')
맛있게 드세요.
masitge deuseyo
Enjoy your meal. (드시다 is honorific 'eat')
Common Mistakes
1. Using plain -어요 where an elder needs -(으)세요. Speaking about or to someone you honor with the bare 해요체 (no -시-) undershoots the respect and sounds oddly flat.
❌ 할머니, 어디 가요?
Under-honorified — to your grandmother, the bare 가요 omits the -시- her status calls for.
✅ 할머니, 어디 가세요?
halmeoni, eodi gaseyo
Grandma, where are you going? (-(으)세요 gives the expected respect)
2. Swapping the two farewells. Saying 안녕히 계세요 to someone who is leaving, or 안녕히 가세요 to someone who is staying, is the classic beginner slip.
❌ 안녕히 가세요.
(Leaving a café, said to the staff.) Wrong — the staff are staying, so 가세요 ('go well') tells them to leave. Say 안녕히 계세요.
✅ 안녕히 계세요.
annyeonghi gyeseyo
(Leaving a café, said to the staff.) Goodbye — correct: you're the one going, they stay.
3. Preferring 먹으세요 to the suppletive 드세요. For an honored subject, 먹다 ("eat") has its own honorific stem 드시다 (or the higher 잡수시다). Regular 먹으세요 is understood but under-polite to an elder.
❌ 할아버지, 많이 먹으세요.
Under-polite — to your grandfather, use the honorific verb 드시다, not plain 먹다.
✅ 할아버지, 많이 드세요.
harabeoji, mani deuseyo
Grandpa, please eat plenty. (drop 먹으세요 for 드세요 with elders)
4. Trying to command with a bare stem. A Korean command needs a real ending; a stem like 앉으 or 가 alone is not a courteous request. Attach -(으)세요.
❌ 여기 앉으.
Not a sentence — a bare stem is no command. Korean has no stripped-stem imperative.
✅ 여기 앉으세요.
yeogi anjeuseyo
Please sit here.
Key Takeaways
- -(으)세요 = -(으)시- + -어요, the honorific present in warm polite 해요체. Allomorphy: -세요 after a vowel (가세요), -으세요 after a consonant (읽으세요), ㄹ drops (만드세요).
- It does double duty: a soft request ("please…": 앉으세요) and an honorific statement/question about the subject (가세요?). Intonation and context, not the form, choose which.
- It is not a dedicated "please" imperative — it is the honorific present, which is why the same form spans statement, question, and command.
- The command ladder: 앉아 (반말) → 앉아요 (blunt polite) → 앉으세요 (standard courtesy) → 앉으십시오 (formal).
- Memorize the split farewells: 안녕히 가세요 to the one leaving, 안녕히 계세요 to the one staying.
Now practice Korean
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Korean→Related Topics
- 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.
- -(으)시- Across Speech Levels: 하십니다 · 하세요 · 하셔 · 하신다TOPIK 2 — Subject honorification (-시-) is independent of the addressee speech level and stacks on top of it — one honored subject runs through 합니다체, 해요체, 반말, and 한다체 alike, so even a casual '할머니 오셨어?' to a friend keeps the honorific.
- The Honorific Past -(으)셨-TOPIK 2 — The past tense of an honored subject stacks the past marker onto the honorific: -(으)시- + -었- → -(으)셨- (가셨어요, 읽으셨어요, 오셨습니다). The morpheme order is the lesson — honorific inside, tense outside — so respect is marked before time, and suppletive verbs (드셨어요, 주무셨어요, 돌아가셨어요) build their past on the same slot.
- -(으)십시오: Formal CommandsTOPIK 1 — The 합니다체 imperative -(으)십시오 — the most deferential everyday command, which bakes the honorific -시- into the ending so it elevates the very person it directs, and which pairs with the warmer 해요체 request -(으)세요.
- -아/어 주세요: The Everyday Polite Request ('Please Do')TOPIK 2 — The default polite way to ask someone to do something for you — 주다 ('give') adds the 'for my benefit' nuance and 세요 supplies the politeness, so 해 주세요 asks a favor where the bare 하세요 only issues an instruction.