English marks a question with word order ("Are you going?"), a command by dropping the subject ("Go!"), and politeness with separate words ("please," "sir"). Korean folds all three jobs — politeness, and whether the sentence is a statement, question, command, or suggestion — into a single 종결어미 (sentence-final ending) stuck onto the last verb. Change that one ending and you change both how polite you sound and what kind of sentence it is. This page is the master grid: pick your speech level (how formal), read across to your sentence type, and the cell gives you the ending. It is the single most useful table for turning a dictionary verb into a real utterance.
The master grid
The example verb below is 가다 (to go), a vowel stem. Notation: -(으) = buffer 으 only after a consonant stem; -아/어 = harmony vowel (stem vowel ㅏ/ㅗ → 아, else → 어, 하다 → 해). ↗ marks that the form is distinguished only by rising intonation.
| Speech level | Declarative (statement) | Interrogative (question) | Imperative (command) | Propositive (let's) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 합니다체 formal polite | -ㅂ니다/습니다 갑니다 (gamnida) | -ㅂ니까/습니까 갑니까? (gamnikka) | -(으)십시오 가십시오 (gasipsio) | -(으)ㅂ시다 갑시다 (gapsida) |
| 해요체 informal polite | -아/어요 가요 (gayo) | -아/어요 ↗ 가요? (gayo) | -(으)세요 가세요 (gaseyo) | -아/어요 가요 (gayo) |
| 해체 · 반말 intimate | -아/어 · 이야 (noun) 가 (ga) · 학생이야 | -아/어? ↗ 가? (ga) | -아/어 가 (ga) | -아/어 · -자 가 · 가자 (gaja) |
| 한다체 plain / written | V -ㄴ다/는다 · A -다 간다 (ganda) · 좋다 (jota) | -느냐 / -(으)냐 가느냐? (ganeunya) | -아라/어라 가라 (gara) | -자 가자 (gaja) |
The same grid on a consonant stem (먹다, "to eat") shows where the buffer 으 and the allomorphs appear. Formal: 먹습니다 (meokseumnida) / 먹습니까? (meokseumnikka) / 먹으십시오 (meogeusipsio) / 먹읍시다 (meogeupsida). Polite: 먹어요 (meogeoyo) / 먹어요? / 먹으세요 (meogeuseyo) / 먹어요. Intimate: 먹어 (meogeo) / 먹어? / 먹어 / 먹어·먹자 (meokja). Plain: 먹는다 (meongneunda) / 먹느냐? (meongneunya) / 먹어라 (meogeora) / 먹자 (meokja). Which allomorph attaches after a batchim is the subject of the batchim-allomorphy reference.
해요체: one ending, four jobs
The most striking cell in the whole grid is the informal-polite one. In 해요체, the same -아/어요 does statement, question, and suggestion — only the imperative peels off as -(으)세요. So 커피 마셔요 can mean "I'm drinking coffee," "Are you drinking coffee?", or "Let's drink coffee," and only intonation and context sort them out. This is the single form that carries most of spoken Korean, and its four-way ambiguity is a feature, not a bug — it lets you be polite without committing to a grammatical mood.
주말에 보통 뭐 해요?
jumare botong mwo haeyo?
What do you usually do on weekends? (해요체 question — same ending as a statement, marked by ↗)
이따가 같이 점심 먹어요.
ittaga gachi jeomsim meogeoyo
Let's have lunch together later. (해요체 as a suggestion — no separate 'let's')
합니다체: the crisp formal grid
합니다체 is the register of announcements, the news, the workplace to a client, the army — and it is the one level where all four sentence types wear visibly different endings, so it is the clearest place to learn the system. Note that the question is -ㅂ니까/습니까 (not the statement ending with a question mark), and the "let's" form -(으)ㅂ시다 is genuinely formal-sounding.
지금부터 회의를 시작하겠습니다.
jigeumbuteo hoeuireul sijakhagetseumnida
We will now begin the meeting. (합니다체 statement)
잠시만 기다려 주십시오.
jamsiman gidaryeo jusipsio
Please wait a moment. (합니다체 command, -(으)십시오)
반말: the dictionary form is NOT the casual form
The commonest beginner reflex is to lop off -요 and think you have casual speech. You do — for verbs and adjectives, 반말 really is just the bare -아/어 stem (가요 → 가, 먹어요 → 먹어). But two traps hide here. First, the intimate form is not the dictionary form: "I'm going" is 가, never ×가다. Second, after a noun, the intimate copula is -(이)야, not a bare noun: 학생이야, 친구야.
너 지금 어디 가?
neo jigeum eodi ga?
Where are you going right now? (반말 question — bare stem + ↗)
우리 이제 그만 가자.
uri ije geuman gaja
Let's get going now. (반말 suggestion, -자)
걔가 내 동생이야.
gyaega nae dongsaeng-iya
That's my younger sibling. (반말 copula, noun + -(이)야)
한다체: the register of the page, not the person
The plain 한다체 (간다, 좋다, 먹는다) is the most misunderstood level for English speakers, who reach for it as "plain neutral Korean." It is not casual speech to a person — that is 반말. 한다체 is the register of writing to no one in particular: diaries, essays, novels, newspaper headlines, textbook statements of fact. Its declarative splits by part of speech — an action verb takes -ㄴ다/는다 (간다, 먹는다), while an adjective or the copula takes plain -다 (좋다, 학생이다).
지구는 태양 주위를 돈다.
jiguneun taeyang juwireul donda
The Earth revolves around the sun. (한다체 statement of fact — verb -ㄴ다)
오늘 서울에 첫눈이 내렸다.
oneul Seoure cheonnuni naeryeotda
The first snow fell in Seoul today. (한다체 headline / narration, past -았다)
Common Mistakes
1. Using the statement ending with a question mark in 합니다체. Formal questions have their own ending, -ㅂ니까/습니까.
❌ 부장님, 지금 어디 갑니다?
Wrong — a formal question needs -ㅂ니까, not statement -ㅂ니다: 어디 가십니까?
✅ 부장님, 지금 어디 가십니까?
bujangnim, jigeum eodi gasimnikka?
Director, where are you headed right now? (formal question, with honorific -시-)
2. Treating the dictionary form as casual speech. 반말 is the bare -아/어 stem, not -다.
❌ 나 지금 집에 가다.
Wrong — the intimate declarative is the bare stem 가, not the dictionary form 가다: 나 집에 가.
✅ 나 지금 집에 가.
na jigeum jibe ga
I'm going home now.
3. Aiming -(으)ㅂ시다 "let's" upward at a senior. 갑시다 can sound like you are directing the other person; to a superior, soften it.
❌ 과장님, 이제 점심 먹읍시다.
Too pushy toward a senior — -(으)ㅂ시다 orders the listener along. Use a softer 가시죠 / 하실까요? instead.
✅ 과장님, 이제 점심 드시죠.
gwajangnim, ije jeomsim deusijo
Section chief, shall we have lunch now? (honorific 드시다 + softening -죠)
4. Sliding between levels within one exchange. Pick a level for the relationship and hold it; hopping 합니다체 ↔ 반말 mid-conversation reads as unstable or rude.
❌ 안녕하세요, 잘 지냈어?
Wrong — one clause is 해요체, the next is 반말. Keep the level consistent: 잘 지내셨어요? or, with a close friend, 안녕, 잘 지냈어?
✅ 안녕하세요, 잘 지내셨어요?
annyeonghaseyo, jal jinaesyeosseoyo?
Hello, how have you been? (both clauses in polite register)
Key Takeaways
- One sentence-final ending encodes both politeness (the row) and sentence type (the column); there is no separate word for "please," "let's," or question inversion.
- 합니다체 shows all four types distinctly (-ㅂ니다 / -ㅂ니까 / -(으)십시오 / -(으)ㅂ시다); it is the cleanest place to see the system.
- 해요체 collapses statement, question, and suggestion into one -아/어요 (only the imperative -(으)세요 differs) — intonation carries the load.
- 반말 is the bare -아/어 stem (not the dictionary -다), with copula -(이)야 after nouns.
- 한다체 (-ㄴ다/는다, -다) is a written / narrating voice — facts, diaries, headlines — not casual speech to a person.
- Don't slide between levels mid-conversation, and don't aim -(으)ㅂ시다 upward at a senior.
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Start learning Korean→Related Topics
- One Verb, Four Speech Levels: Master Comparison TableTOPIK 2 — A single verb declined across all four everyday speech levels at once (합니다체 / 해요체 / 반말 / 한다체) — read across a row for the same meaning at four politeness settings, read down a column for the moods available inside one level. Includes the adjective grid that shows why 좋다 has no imperative.
- The Six Speech Levels 상대높임법: An OverviewTOPIK 1 — Traditional Korean grammar counts six addressee speech levels, each self-named by how the verb 하다 ends in it — but only four (합니다체, 해요체, 한다체, 해체) are alive in everyday use; 하오체 and 하게체 survive mainly in period dramas and old speech.
- One Ending, Four Jobs: 해요 by IntonationTOPIK 1 — In 해요체 a single -아/어요 form serves as statement, question, command, and proposal — split not by morphology but by intonation and context, which is why Koreans lean on cues like 같이, 좀, and -나요 to keep flat text unambiguous.
- Connective Endings by Function (연결어미): Master TableTOPIK 3 — A one-stop table grouping Korean's major clause-connecting endings by meaning — 'and', 'and then', 'but', 'because', 'if', 'in order to', 'even if', 'setting-up' — because Korean chains clauses with verb endings on the first predicate, not with conjunction words.
- Indirect-Quotation Endings (-다고 · 냐고 · 라고 · 자고 + Contractions): Reference TableTOPIK 4 — The four indirect-speech endings organized by the sentence type of the quoted clause — statement -다고, question -냐고, command -라고, suggestion -자고 — plus the everyday spoken contractions -대 / -냬 / -래 / -재 that natives actually use.