For almost every verb, honorifying the subject is mechanical: insert -(으)시-. 가다 → 가시다 → 가세요; 읽다 → 읽으시다 → 읽으세요. But a small, top-frequency set refuses this rule. To honor "eat," "sleep," "be present," "die," or "speak" for a respected subject, Korean throws the plain verb away and reaches for a wholly different word — a suppletive honorific, Korean's version of English go → went. This page is the reference table for that closed set. Because no rule generates these forms, you cannot derive 드세요 from 먹다; you memorize the pair.
The table
Each honorific stem already contains 시, so once you have the stem you conjugate it like any -시- verb: present -세요, past -셨어요, formal -십니다.
| Plain verb | Meaning | Honorific stem | 해요체 honorific | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 먹다 · 마시다 | eat · drink | 드시다 | 드세요 deuseyo | 잡수시다 (잡수세요) for higher register |
| 자다 | sleep | 주무시다 | 주무세요 jumuseyo | 안녕히 주무세요 = good night |
| 있다 (be located) | be present / stay | 계시다 | 계세요 gyeseyo | vs 있으시다 for possession — see below |
| 없다 (be absent) | not be present | 안 계시다 | 안 계세요 an gyeseyo | the negative of 계시다 |
| 죽다 | die | 돌아가시다 | 돌아가셨어요 doragasyeosseoyo | lit. "return"; a euphemism, usually past |
| 말하다 | speak / say | 말씀하시다 | 말씀하세요 malsseumhaseyo | 말씀 = honorific "words" |
| 아프다 | be ill | 편찮으시다 | 편찮으세요 pyeonchaneuseyo | whole-person illness |
| 배고프다 | be hungry | 시장하시다 | 시장하세요 sijanghaseyo | somewhat formal |
One entry needs a footnote on its own form. 돌아가시다 is built on 돌아가다 "to go back," so its present 돌아가세요 literally means "please go back" — which is why the death sense is almost always used in the past, 돌아가셨어요. Read a bare 돌아가세요 as "go home / go back," and 돌아가셨어요 (with context) as "passed away."
할아버지, 진지 많이 드세요.
harabeoji, jinji mani deuseyo
Grandpa, please eat plenty. (먹다 → 드시다, paired with the honorific noun 진지)
뭐 좀 드시겠어요?
mwo jom deusigesseoyo
Would you like something to eat or drink? (드시다 + -겠-)
어머니, 안녕히 주무세요.
eomeoni, annyeonghi jumuseyo
Mother, good night. (자다 → 주무시다)
사장님은 지금 회의실에 계세요.
sajangnimeun jigeum hoeuisire gyeseyo
The boss is in the meeting room right now. (있다 → 계시다)
The 있다 split: 계시다 vs 있으시다
Here is the single most important refinement, and the one that separates a careful speaker from a merely polite one. 있다 has two honorifics, and the meaning — not the spelling — chooses between them:
- When 있다 means the person themselves is present / located somewhere ("be, stay, be in"), the honorific is the suppletive 계시다: 아버지께서 집에 계세요 ("Father is at home").
- When 있다 means the person has something — a possession, an attribute, time, a question — Korean does not honor the person directly (they are not the thing that "exists"); it honors through the possessed item with regular 있으시다: 시간 있으세요? ("Do you have time?"), 질문 있으세요? ("Do you have a question?").
The logic: 계시다 elevates the person existing, but when it is the person's thing that exists, you can only reach the person indirectly, so you keep 있다 and add -시-. Use 계시다 for a possession (×질문 계세요?) and you have literally said "Is your question present in the room?"
혹시 지금 시간 있으세요?
hoksi jigeum sigan isseuseyo
Do you happen to have time right now? (possession → 있으세요, not 계세요)
교수님은 연구실에 안 계세요.
gyosunimeun yeongusire an gyeseyo
The professor isn't in her office. (absence of a person → 안 계세요)
They travel with honorific nouns
Suppletive honorific verbs have honorific noun partners, and native speakers pair them; a plain noun under an honorific verb reads half-dressed. 밥 becomes 진지, 나이 becomes 연세, 이름 becomes 성함, 집 becomes 댁, 말 becomes 말씀.
실례지만, 연세가 어떻게 되세요?
sillyejiman, yeonsega eotteoke doeseyo
Excuse me, but how old are you? (to an elder; 나이 → 연세)
성함이 어떻게 되세요?
seonghami eotteoke doeseyo
May I ask your name? (이름 → 성함)
The rest of the set in real sentences
할머니께서 재작년에 돌아가셨어요.
halmeonikkeseo jaejangnyeone doragasyeosseoyo
My grandmother passed away the year before last. (죽다 → 돌아가시다, in the past)
천천히 말씀하세요. 잘 듣고 있어요.
cheoncheonhi malsseumhaseyo. jal deutgo isseoyo
Please speak slowly. I'm listening. (말하다 → 말씀하시다)
할아버지께서 요즘 많이 편찮으세요.
harabeojikkeseo yojeum mani pyeonchaneuseyo
Grandfather has been quite unwell lately. (아프다 → 편찮으시다)
많이 시장하시죠? 어서 드세요.
mani sijanghasijo? eoseo deuseyo
You must be hungry, right? Please, eat. (배고프다 → 시장하시다)
How this differs from English
English also keeps "elevated" vocabulary — pass away for die, dine for eat, reside for live — but reaching for them is stylistic and optional; "my grandfather died last year" is perfectly respectful. In Korean the suppletive honorific is grammatically obligatory once the subject outranks you: you cannot decline to say 돌아가시다 or 드시다 without sounding cold. The upside is scale — the set is a tight, closed list you can memorize as a unit, like a small irregular-verb table.
Common Mistakes
1. Regularizing 먹다 into ×먹으세요. For anyone you respect, "eat" is 드세요 (or 잡수세요), never the -시- form of 먹다.
❌ 할아버지, 밥 많이 먹으세요.
Wrong — ×먹으세요 for an elder; use 진지 + 드세요/잡수세요.
✅ 할아버지, 진지 많이 드세요.
harabeoji, jinji mani deuseyo
Grandpa, please eat plenty.
2. Using ×자세요 instead of 주무세요 for "sleep." 자다 + -시- is not the honorific; the suppletive 주무시다 is.
❌ 할머니, 안녕히 자세요.
Wrong — 자세요 isn't honorific enough for a grandmother; use 주무세요.
✅ 할머니, 안녕히 주무세요.
halmeoni, annyeonghi jumuseyo
Grandma, good night.
3. Saying ×죽으셨어요 for a respected person's death. Death of an elder is 돌아가시다.
❌ 선생님의 아버지께서 죽으셨어요.
Wrong and cold — use the euphemistic 돌아가셨어요.
✅ 선생님의 아버지께서 돌아가셨어요.
seonsaengnimui abeojikkeseo doragasyeosseoyo
The teacher's father passed away.
4. Using 계세요 for a possession. A question or item you have takes 있으세요, not 계세요.
❌ 혹시 질문 계세요?
Wrong — a question is a possession, not a present person; use 질문 있으세요?
✅ 혹시 질문 있으세요?
hoksi jilmun isseuseyo
Do you happen to have a question?
Key Takeaways
- A closed set replaces the stem instead of adding -(으)시-: 먹다→드시다, 자다→주무시다, 있다→계시다, 죽다→돌아가시다, 말하다→말씀하시다, 아프다→편찮으시다, 배고프다→시장하시다.
- Conjugate normally once you have the stem: 드세요, 드셨어요, 드십니다.
- 계시다 (person present) vs 있으시다 (possession/attribute) is the key split — meaning chooses, not spelling.
- 잡수시다 is a higher-register "eat"; 돌아가시다 is a euphemism used mostly in the past (돌아가셨어요).
- Pair honorific verbs with honorific nouns: 진지, 연세, 성함, 댁, 말씀.
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Start learning Korean→Related Topics
- Humble Verbs (겸양어): Plain → Humble TableTOPIK 3 — The lookup table for Korean's humble verbs — 주다 → 드리다, 보다/만나다 → 뵙다/뵈다, 묻다 → 여쭙다/여쭈다, 데리다 → 모시다, 말하다 → 말씀드리다 — where the SPEAKER lowers their own action to elevate a higher-status object, a separate axis from the subject-honorific -(으)시-.
- Honorific Nouns (높임 명사): Plain → Elevated Reference TableTOPIK 3 — The consolidated table of Korean nouns that swap to a separate elevated form for a respected person — 밥→진지, 집→댁, 이름→성함, 나이→연세, 사람→분, 말→말씀, 생일→생신, 병→병환, 딸/아들→따님/아드님 — plus the two-way word 말씀 and the concord rule that makes an honorific noun pull 께서 and -(으)시- onto the whole clause.
- Conjugation Sheet: 있다 / 없다 (exist / have / be located)TOPIK 1 — A side-by-side quick sheet for the antonym pair 있다 and 없다 — Korean's one verb for 'there is / is at / have' and its dedicated negative — with the verbal -는 attributive (있는/없는), the honorific split 계시다 vs 있으시다, and the two aspectual auxiliaries -고 있다 and -아/어 있다.
- Suppletive Honorific Verbs: 계시다, 드시다, 주무시다, 돌아가시다TOPIK 2 — The small closed set of verbs that don't take -(으)시- but swap to a wholly different honorific stem — Korean's version of go/went, and the ones you simply have to memorize.
- 계시다 vs 있으시다: Direct vs Indirect HonorificationTOPIK 3 — When the honored person themselves exists, use 계시다; when something merely belonging to them exists, use 있으시다 — the flagship minimal pair of direct vs indirect honorification.