A Product Description (상품 설명)

Scroll a Korean shopping site and the spec blurbs read differently from anything you would say. They are written in marketing 문어체 — a polished, formal-polite prose (합니다체 endings) with a bookish flavour all its own: verbs turn into noun-plus-adjective phrases (휴대가 간편하다, "carrying is convenient"), the passive states how a thing "is made," and a stiff literary connective -여 stands in for the everyday -고 / -아서. This page annotates a full product description for a reusable water bottle, one feature per line, so you can see the register's grammar working together.

Note the register: these are 합니다체 (-습니다) endings — formal polite, because the shop is addressing a customer — but in the compressed, feature-listing prose style of written marketing, not conversation.

The description, feature by feature

The opening line shows the passive-of-making -(으)로 만들어지다 ("is made of/from"). 만들다 ("to make") → 만들어지다 ("to be made," the -어지다 passive) → 만들어졌습니다 ("is/has been made"). The material is marked with 소재로 — 로 as the "out of / from" of composition. Marketing prose almost never says "we make this from…"; it says the product "is made from…," keeping the maker offstage and the product centre-stage. (See the -어지다 passive.) 친환경 (親環境) = "eco-friendly," 소재 (素材) = "material."

Two register markers packed together. First the bookish connective -여: 튼튼하여 = 튼튼하고 / 튼튼해서 ("being sturdy, so…"). -여 is the literary/written variant of the 하다-verb connective; you would say 튼튼해서 out loud, but written spec prose reaches for the crisper 튼튼하여. Second, nominal predication: 휴대가 간편합니다 literally says "carrying is convenient" — the Sino-Korean noun 휴대 (携帶, "carrying/portability") plus 이/가 plus the adjective 간편하다, instead of a plain verb like "it carries easily." Spec Korean loves this noun-based framing; it sounds more objective and product-spec-like.

More nominal spec style. 구조로 = "by/with [its] structure" (로 as means). Then the formal listing 과/와: 보온과 보냉 = "heat-retention and cold-retention" — 과 is the written, tidy "and" for nouns, where speech might use 하고 or (이)랑. 모두 ("both/all") 뛰어납니다 ("are outstanding"). The compounds are dense Sino-Korean: 이중 (二重, "double"), 진공 (眞空, "vacuum"), 구조 (構造, "structure"), 보온 (保溫), 보냉 (保冷).

The possibility noun 가능하다 ("to be possible"): 사용이 가능합니다 = "use is possible," the nominal way of saying "you can use it." 가능 (可能) + 하다 turns the whole idea of "being able to" into a noun-predicate, which spec prose prefers over the verbal 쓸 수 있습니다. 식기세척기 (食器洗滌機) = "dishwasher." This 사용이 가능하다 pattern is everywhere in product copy ("배송 가능," "환불 가능," "예약 가능").

Here the copy switches to the verbal ability frame -(으)ㄹ 수 있다 ("can ~") for variety: 여닫을 수 있습니다 ("can be opened and closed"). 한 손으로도 = "even with one hand" (으로 "with" + 도 "even"), 간편하게 the adverb ("conveniently"). Spec prose mixes the nominal 가능하다 and the verbal -(으)ㄹ 수 있다; both mean "can," and alternating them keeps the blurb from sounding monotonous. (See -(으)ㄹ 수 있다.)

Now the ability frame rises to its honorific form, because the copy is addressing the customer: 구매하실 수 있습니다 ("you may purchase"), with subject honorific -(으)시- inside 하실. Product copy honors the reader whenever the reader is the one acting — buying, choosing, contacting. 다양한 색상과 크기 uses the formal 과 ("and") again; 색상 (色相) = "color," 구매 (購買) = "purchase."

A softer, testimonial line built on the -받다 passive: 사랑받다 ("to receive love / to be loved"), where the Sino-native pattern noun + 받다 ("to receive ~") forms a passive — 사랑받고 있습니다 ("is being loved"), the progressive -고 있다 giving an ongoing sense. 환경을 생각하는 소비자 ("consumers who think about the environment") shows a present relative clause modifying 소비자들 ("consumers"); -에게 marks them as the ones by whom it is loved. (Compare the -받다 passive.)

Care instructions bring in the formal request -아/어 주십시오 ("please kindly ~"), the 합니다체 command counterpart of the notice's -주시기 바랍니다. Note the terse Sino-Korean N 시 ("when/upon ~"): 세척 시 = "at the time of washing," the same clipped 시 (時) that formal notices use instead of a full -(으)ㄹ 때 clause. 세척 (洗滌) = "washing," 부드러운 = "soft."

The closing pointer, a fixed e-commerce phrase: 자세한 사항 ("detailed matters") 은 … 참고해 주십시오 ("please refer to"). 상세 (詳細) 페이지 = the "detail page" of a listing. Again the polished -아/어 주십시오 closes the copy on a courteous formal-polite note.

What to notice

• The register is 합니다체 (formal polite) in a compressed written-marketing flavour — polite to the customer, catalogue-terse in style.
• The product "is made" via the passive -(으)로 만들어지다 (만들어졌습니다), keeping the maker offstage.
• The bookish connective -여 (튼튼하여) replaces spoken -고/-아서 to signal written register.
• Nominal predication dominates: 휴대가 간편하다, 사용이 가능하다 (noun + 이/가 + adjective/가능하다) rather than plain verbs.
• Ability alternates between nominal 가능하다 and verbal -(으)ㄹ 수 있다, honorific -(으)실 수 있다 when the customer is the actor; requests use -아/어 주십시오; nouns are listed with formal 과/와.

Common Mistakes

1. Using the plain active where the register wants the passive-of-making. 저희가 만들었습니다 ("we made it") names the maker; spec copy says the product is made with 만들어졌습니다.

2. Dropping the subject particle in nominal predication. In 사용이 가능하다 / 휴대가 간편하다, the noun needs 이/가; without it the phrase falls apart.

3. Forgetting the honorific -(으)시- when the customer is the actor. When the reader is the one buying, the copy raises them: 구매하실 수 있습니다, not the plain 구매할 수 있습니다.

4. Using colloquial 하고/랑 to list nouns in formal copy. Written spec prose lists with 과/와 (and, more formally, 및); 색상하고 크기 sounds spoken.