Plain-Style Questions: -니? / -냐? / -(으)ㄴ가·-나?

English gets by with a single question intonation for the whole world: you ask your best friend, a child, and a stranger "Where are you going?" with the same words and the same rising pitch. Korean makes you choose. Below the polite -아요? level lies a set of plain-style question endings — -니?, -냐?, and the musing -(으)ㄴ가?/-나? — and picking among them is a social act, not just a grammatical one. Each encodes exactly who you are to the person you're talking to: an affectionate elder, a blunt peer, or someone talking to no one but yourself.

Because this page teaches the plain style, every example below is in 반말 (plain speech), not the 해요체 default used elsewhere in this guide. That's the whole point — these endings are the plain style.

-니?: the warm plain question

-니? is the gentle, affectionate plain-style question. It's what an older speaker uses toward a younger one — a parent to a child, an aunt to a nephew — and what close intimates use with each other. It carries warmth; there's a caretaking softness baked into it. Attach -니? directly to any stem: verb, adjective, or 있다/없다.

This is the register of a mother asking her kid about their day. Note the pronunciation: 먹었니 → [머건니] (meogeonni) and 했니 → [핸니] (haenni) — the batchim nasalizes before ㄴ, the same automatic shift you saw with -나요?.

-냐?: the blunt plain question

-냐? asks the same questions but with a rougher, more casual edge. It's typical among male peers, in brash or teasing exchanges, and when a speaker is irritated or impatient. Where -니? pats you on the head, -냐? claps you on the back — or jabs you.

Traditionally, -냐 split by predicate — verbs took -느냐 (가느냐?), adjectives took -(으)냐 (좋으냐?) — but modern spoken Korean has leveled all of it to plain -냐 for verbs and adjectives alike: 가냐?, 먹냐?, 좋냐?, 예쁘냐?. You'll still meet the older -느냐/-(으)냐 in literature and careful writing.

-(으)ㄴ가?/-나?: talking to yourself

The third set turns inward. -(으)ㄴ가? and -나? are for self-directed musing and rhetorical wondering — questions you ask the air, not a listener. Think of the English "…I wonder?" or a puzzled "Now where did that go?".

The split mirrors the -(으)ㄴ가요?/-나요? pattern minus the polite 요:

• Verbs and 있다/없다 → -나? — 가나?, 맞나?, 갔나?, 오나?
• Adjectives and 이다 → -(으)ㄴ가? — 좋은가?, 괜찮은가?, 학생인가?

Because these are aimed at yourself, they're not rude to use "in front of" anyone — you're not addressing them. A speaker can mutter 이게 맞나? in a roomful of superiors without offense, because grammatically it's self-talk.

The same forms in writing: quizzes and rhetorical questions

The -(으)ㄴ가?/-나? pair has a second, very different home: written questions — exam items, quiz prompts, essay-style rhetorical questions, and headlines. On the page there is no listener to assign a speech level to, so this "level-less" ending is the natural neutral choice.

One wrinkle to notice: in this bookish register a present-tense verb takes -는가 (배우는가, 가는가) — built on the verb's -는 form — rather than the colloquial self-talk -나 (배우나?). Adjectives and the copula keep -(으)ㄴ가/-인가 in both registers (옳은가, 무엇인가). So the written verb form is -는가, while muttered self-talk leans on the shorter -나.

This is why the very same ending can feel intimate (muttered to yourself) or coolly formal (printed in a textbook): both uses share the trait of not addressing a specific listener, so neither needs the relational marking that -아요?/-습니까? carry. Context and medium tell them apart.

Comparing the three tones

Note that plain-style statements use -(느)ㄴ다/-다 (간다, 좋다), while plain-style questions use the endings on this page — you don't just slap a question mark on the declarative and call it a question in careful plain style.

The danger: aiming plain style upward

This is the single most important safety rule. Plain-style questions are licensed downward (to someone younger or lower in status) or sideways (to a genuine peer or intimate). Fire them upward — at an elder, a stranger, a teacher, a boss, a customer — and they land as condescending or flat-out rude. A -냐? tossed at your professor is a small social explosion.

When you're unsure of the relationship, or clearly speaking to a superior or stranger, you don't reach for -니?/-냐? at all — you use polite -아요? or the gentle -나요?/-(으)ㄴ가요?. Plain style is something you earn access to as a relationship gets closer (a process Koreans call 말 놓다, "dropping the speech level").

Common Mistakes

1. Aiming -니?/-냐? at someone older or a stranger. The grammar is fine; the social effect is offensive.

2. Confusing warm -니 with blunt -냐. They are not free variants — the tone difference is real and felt.

3. Putting a verb on -(으)ㄴ가? instead of -나?. Self-directed musing splits like -나요?/-(으)ㄴ가요?: verbs take -나?.

4. Using the declarative form as a question. Plain-style questions need a question ending, not just intonation on the -ㄴ다 statement.

Key Takeaways

• Plain-style questions come in three flavors: -니? (warm), -냐? (blunt), -(으)ㄴ가?/-나? (self-talk).
• -냐? is the base for reported questions (-냐고), so it earns its keep beyond casual speech.
• The musing set splits like -나요?/-(으)ㄴ가요?: verbs + 있다/없다 → -나?, adjectives + 이다 → -(으)ㄴ가?.
• Modern speech levels the traditional -느냐/-(으)냐 split down to plain -냐.
• Never aim -니?/-냐? upward — at elders, strangers, or superiors it reads as rude. Keep plain style for downward, peer, and intimate contexts.