Third Person: 그, 그녀, 그분, 걔 — Mostly a Written Device

English keeps he and she in constant rotation — you can barely finish a paragraph without one. Korean conversation actively avoids them. The third-person pronouns exist, but most of them are a literary device: you meet 그 and 그녀 on the printed page, in novels and translated fiction, far more than in anyone's mouth. In real speech, Koreans reach instead for the person's name, a title, or a demonstrative-plus-noun phrase like 그 사람. Understanding this — that "he/she" is largely something Korean writes rather than says — is the key to not sounding like a novel being read aloud.

The inventory, all built on 이 / 그 / 저

Every third-person pronoun is assembled from the demonstratives 이/그/저, so the same speaker–listener–distance deixis and the honorific suffix 분 carry straight over.

그녀 — a word invented to translate Western novels

그녀 ("she") deserves a special warning. Korean historically had no dedicated word for "she"; 그녀 was coined in the 20th century specifically to render the she of European novels flooding into Korean translation. It remains overwhelmingly a written word. Drop 그녀 into a casual conversation and it sounds like you're narrating a book.

That sentence is perfect Korean — on a page. Its plain-style ending 바라보았다 signals written narration, and 그녀 fits that register exactly. The same 그녀 in a chat with a friend would land as stilted and strange.

그 ("he") is a touch more flexible than 그녀 but is still fundamentally literary. In fiction and formal writing it flows; in conversation it feels detached.

What speech actually uses: name, 그 사람, 그분

In conversation, Korean re-refers to a third person in three natural ways.

Re-use the name. Where English would switch to "he/she", Korean simply repeats the name — even several times in a row. This never sounds repetitive to a Korean ear; it's the default.

그 사람 — "that person". A demonstrative-plus-noun phrase is the everyday, register-neutral "he/she" of speech. 그 사람 points back to someone already mentioned or mutually known.

그분 — the honorific "he/she". When the referent deserves respect (a teacher, a client, an elder), upgrade 사람 to the honorific bound noun 분. 그분 means "that esteemed person" and is fully at home in polite speech.

Notice that 그분 also takes the honorific dative 께 and pairs with honorific verbs — the respect propagates through the whole sentence, which a bare 그 could never do.

걔 / 얘 / 쟤 — the casual contractions

Casual speech fuses a demonstrative with 애 ("kid") to make quick, familiar third-person forms. These are pure banmal — friendly and a little dismissive, used about peers, friends, and children.

Because they're banmal, 걔/얘/쟤 clash with polite endings and are inappropriate about anyone senior — you would never call your boss 걔.

How this differs from English

English pronouns are grammatically obligatory and register-neutral: you must say "he" or "she", and it costs nothing. Korean flips both facts. Third-person pronouns are largely optional — thanks to pro-drop, the most natural sentence often has no third-person word at all — and the ones that exist are register-loaded: 그/그녀 read as literary, 걔 as casual, 그분 as respectful. So an English speaker's instinct to spray "he/she" across a conversation produces exactly the wrong texture. The fix is to think in terms of names and 그 사람/그분, and to reserve 그/그녀 for when you're actually writing.

Common Mistakes

1. Using 그녀 in conversation. It's a written, literary word; spoken aloud it sounds like reciting a novel.

• ✗ (chatting) 그녀가 저한테 전화했어요.
• ✓ 지은 씨가 저한테 전화했어요. — jieun ssiga jeohante jeonhwahaesseoyo — "Jieun called me." (re-use the name)
• ✓ 그 사람이 저한테 전화했어요. — geu sarami jeohante jeonhwahaesseoyo — "She called me." (그 사람 in speech)

2. Peppering speech with 그 as an all-purpose "he". Like English, an English speaker over-supplies it; Korean prefers the name or 그 사람, and often nothing.

• ✗ 그가 왔어요. 그가 저를 봤어요. 그가 웃었어요.
• ✓ 민호 씨가 왔어요. 저를 보고 웃었어요. — minho ssiga wasseoyo. jeoreul bogo useosseoyo — "Minho came. He saw me and smiled." (name once, then drop it)

3. Using casual 걔 about someone senior. 걔 is dismissive banmal — it insults anyone you owe respect.

• ✗ (about your professor) 걔가 그렇게 말했어요.
• ✓ 그분이 그렇게 말씀하셨어요. — geubuni geureoke malsseumhasyeosseoyo — "He/She said so." (honorific 그분 + honorific verb)

4. Forgetting that 그 is a demonstrative, not the English article "the". 그 means "that / the aforementioned", anchored to shared knowledge — it doesn't turn a noun definite the way "the" does.

• ✗ treating 그 책 as simply "the book" (a neutral definite)
• ✓ 그 책 = geu chaek = "that book (the one we mentioned / you know the one)" — it always points back to something known.

Key Takeaways

• Korean third-person pronouns are largely a literary/written device; conversation avoids "he/she".
• 그 (he) and especially 그녀 (she, a 20th-century coinage for translating Western novels) sound bookish in speech — reserve them for writing.
• Natural spoken third person = re-use the name, or say 그 사람 (plain) / 그분 (honorific, with 께 and honorific verbs).
• Casual banmal fuses demonstrative + 애: 걔 (그 애), 얘 (이 애), 쟤 (저 애) — friendly, dismissive, never about seniors.
• All of these are built on 이/그/저, so demonstrative deixis and the honorific 분 carry over.