A Polite Phone Call (존댓말 통화)

A phone call to an office is one of the highest-stakes register performances a learner faces: you cannot see the other person, you often do not know their rank, and the whole exchange runs on 존댓말 (respectful speech). This annotated call — a caller trying to reach a colleague who is out — is a compact tour of the machinery: the telephone opener 여보세요, the honorific verb 계시다 applied to the person you are asking about, the softening ending -는데(요), a polite self-naming frame, and the humble verb 드리다. Learn this call and you can make ten variations of it.

The register mixes two polite levels on purpose. The formal 합니다체 (-습니다/-ㅂ니다) frames the call — openings, self-naming, sign-offs — while the body settles into the warmer 해요체 (-아/어요 with -(으)세요). This 합니다체-into-해요체 blend is exactly the texture of a real business call: formal at the seams, conversational in the middle. The caller is 이지은 (from 한국대학교); the person answering is a colleague of the person she wants. Each turn is one line.

The call, turn by turn

여보세요 is the phone-specific "hello" — you use it only on the telephone, never face to face (there you would say 안녕하세요). It is frozen but historically built from 여보- ("look here") plus the honorific -(으)세요, so it already carries politeness. On a rising tone it opens the call.

The caller echoes 여보세요 and adds the general greeting 안녕하세요 — a normal, polite double-opener before getting to business.

The pivot of the whole page. To ask whether a person is present, you do not use plain 있어요 for someone you are treating with respect — you use 계시다, the suppletive honorific of 있다, here as 계세요? The crucial reframing for English speakers: Korean raises the person the sentence is about (김민수 씨), completely independently of who is on the line. You honor 김민수 with 계시다 even though you are speaking to someone else entirely. 씨 is the neutral-polite name suffix ("Mr./Ms."), attached to the full name. (Details on 계시다.)

The answerer keeps 김민수 honored — 안 계시는데요, not ×안 있는데요 — because the absent colleague is still the respected subject. 자리에 = "at [his] seat/desk." And the ending -는데(요) does something subtle and very Korean: it presents the fact as background, leaving the sentence trailing and open, inviting the caller to respond ("he's not in… [so what would you like to do?]"). A flat 안 계세요 would be a closed, blunt "he's not here"; the -는데요 softens it into an unfinished, cooperative offer. (See -는데(요) background.)

실례지만 ("excuse me, but…" / "it's rude of me, but…") is the standard hedge that softens a potentially intrusive question — asking someone's identity. 누구세요? puts the honorific -(으)시- on the question word frame (누구 + 이세요 → 누구세요), politely honoring the caller as the subject. This is the courteous way to say "who is this?"; a bare 누구예요? would sound curt.

The self-naming frame. -(이)라고 하다 literally means "[people] call [me] X" — 이지은이라고 합니다 = "I am called Ji-eun Lee." Koreans routinely introduce themselves this way rather than with a flat 저는 이지은이에요, because the "I am called…" frame is a touch more formal and modest. 의 is the possessive ("of Hanguk University"). Note the humble 저, and the 합니다체 ending 합니다 — the caller matches the formality of a business call. (The quotative frame is on -(이)라고 하다.)

씨와 uses 와 ("with") — 통화하다 ("to have a phone conversation") is done with someone. -고 싶다 ("want to") gives 통화하고 싶-, and once again the softening -은데요 trails the sentence open ("I'd like to speak with him… [is that possible?]"). The same -는데/-은데 politeness that the answerer used now comes back from the caller — it is the shared grammar of not-being-blunt.

The answerer offers help with the humble 드리다: 남겨 드릴까요 = 남기다 ("leave [a note]") + benefactive -아/어 드리다 ("do for you, humbly") + -(으)ㄹ까요 ("shall I?"). Because the action benefits the caller, the speaker lowers their own action with 드리다 rather than the neutral 주다 — the humble counterpart you would use for anyone you are treating respectfully. (See 드리다.)

A polite decline. 괜찮습니다 ("it's fine / no need") in 합니다체 — the formal register returning for the wrap-up. Declining an offer with 괜찮다 is the standard soft "no thanks."

The humble verb appears one more time, now from the caller: 전화드리겠습니다 = 전화(를) 드리다 ("to give a call, humbly") + -겠- (the marker of intention/will, "I will") + 습니다. The caller humbly offers the future call to the respected side. -겠습니다 is the formal, committed "I will…" of business Korean — more formal than the conversational -(으)ㄹ게요 you would text a friend.

Formal thanks (감사하다) in 합니다체 — the register the call closes on.

The farewell to someone who stays: 안녕히 계세요 (literally "stay in peace"), built on the honorific 계시다 again. The caller is the one "leaving" the call, so she tells the other to stay well.

A very Korean phone sign-off: 들어가세요 ("go in [safely]"), the honorific-imperative of 들어가다. On the telephone it is an idiomatic "goodbye, take care" from the person staying to the person hanging up — a warmer alternative to 안녕히 가세요.

What to notice

• The call raises the person it is about: 계시다 (계세요, 안 계시는데요) honors 김민수 even though you are speaking to a third party — the subject-honorific system tracks "about," not "to." See -(으)시-.
• -는데(요)/-은데요 is the politeness of the open door — background statements that trail off (안 계시는데요, 싶은데요) instead of slamming shut.
• 드리다 lowers the speaker's own action toward the respected side (남겨 드릴까요, 전화드리겠습니다) — the humble counterpart of 주다/하다.
• The register blends 합니다체 and 해요체: formal at the seams (합니다, 괜찮습니다, 전화드리겠습니다), conversational in the body (계세요, 누구세요, 드릴까요).
• -(이)라고 하다 ("I'm called…") is the modest self-naming frame; -겠습니다 is the formal committed "I will."

Common Mistakes

1. Using plain 있어요 for a respected third party. Asking after someone you're treating with respect requires 계시다, not 있다 — this is the signature phone-call error.

2. Greeting with 안녕하세요 instead of 여보세요 on the phone. The telephone hello is its own word; 안녕하세요 as a call-opener sounds off.

3. Honoring your own action instead of humbling it. When you will make the call, you don't honor yourself with -(으)시-; you humble your action with 드리다.

4. Closing the phone call with the wrong farewell. The one who leaves says 안녕히 계세요 (stay well) to the one who stays; swapping in 안녕히 가세요 (go well) tells the stayer to leave.