Subject Honorific -(으)시-: Raising the Subject | Korean Grammar

Korean has a dedicated grammatical device for showing respect to the person a sentence is about: the infix -(으)시-. It slots in between the verb stem and the tense/ending, and it says, in effect, "the subject of this clause is someone I hold in respect." A waiter asks 뭐 드시겠어요? and a student says 선생님이 오세요 — both carry -시- because both sentences are about a person who outranks the speaker. Learning this infix is the true entry point to the honorific system, because almost everything else (the endings -(으)세요 and -(으)십니다, the suppletive verbs like 계시다) is built on top of it.

What -(으)시- does

-(으)시- elevates the grammatical subject — the one doing the action or being in the state. It is inserted right after the stem, before the tense marker and the sentence ending:

stem + -(으)시- + (tense) + ending

So 가다 ("go") → 가 + 시 + 어요 → 가세요 ("[he/she, respected] goes"); 읽다 ("read") → 읽 + 으시 + 어요 → 읽으세요. The -시- carries no meaning of its own beyond respect — it does not change what happens, only signals whose action it is and that you defer to that person.

선생님께서 지금 오세요.

seonsaengnimkkeseo jigeum oseyo

The teacher is coming now. (오다 + 시 → 오세요, honoring the teacher)

아버지께서 신문을 읽으세요.

abeojikkeseo sinmuneul ilgeuseyo

My father is reading the newspaper. (읽다 + 으시 → 읽으세요)

Allomorphy: -시- vs -으시-

Which shape appears depends on the last sound of the stem — the same 으-buffer logic that governs the rest of Korean:

Vowel-final stem → -시-: 가다 → 가시다, 오다 → 오시다, 보다 → 보시다.
Consonant-final stem → -으시- (the 으 buffers the two consonants): 읽다 → 읽으시다, 앉다 → 앉으시다, 받다 → 받으시다.
ㄹ-stem → -시-, and the ㄹ drops: 살다 → 사시다, 알다 → 아시다, 만들다 → 만드시다. A ㄹ-stem never takes 으, and its ㄹ falls before the ㅅ of -시-.

할머니는 시골에 사세요.

halmeonineun sigore saseyo

My grandmother lives in the countryside. (살다 → 사세요: ㄹ drops, no 으)

사장님도 그 사실을 아세요.

sajangnimdo geu sasireul aseyo

The boss knows about that too. (알다 → 아세요)

여기 앉으세요.

yeogi anjeuseyo

Please have a seat here. (앉다 → 앉으세요: 으 buffers the batchim)

You have probably noticed that every example so far ends in -(으)세요. That is not a coincidence: -(으)세요 is simply -(으)시- fused with the polite ending -어요, and it is the form -시- surfaces as most of the time. Its full family — -(으)세요, -(으)십니다, -(으)십시오 — gets its own dedicated page.

The company it keeps: 께서 and 께

Honorification is not just a verb affair; the noun phrases shift too. When the subject is honored, its subject particle 이/가 is upgraded to the honorific 께서, and a person receiving something (a dative role, normally 에게/한테) is marked with the honorific 께.

교수님께서 뭐라고 하셨어요?

gyosunimkkeseo mworago hasyeosseoyo

What did the professor say? (하다 + 시 + past → 하셨어요; subject in 께서)

이 편지를 할머니께 드리세요.

i pyeonjireul halmeonikke deuriseyo

Give this letter to your grandmother. (recipient in 께, not 에게)

The honorific noun particles and the verb's -시- normally travel together: an honored subject in 께서 pairs with a -시- verb, forming a matched set. (You will hear 이/가 with a -시- verb in casual speech — 할아버지가 오세요 — but 께서 is the fully respectful choice.)

The rule English speakers keep breaking: never elevate yourself

Here is the single most important constraint, and the one English does nothing to prepare you for. -시- honors the subject. Since you cannot respectfully elevate yourself, you never put -시- on your own actions. English has no parallel: politeness in English attaches to how you address the listener ("Could you possibly…"), never to a grammatical marker on the subject. In Korean the two are separate, and self-honorification is an immediate, jarring error.

제가 먼저 갈게요.

jega meonjeo galgeyo

I'll go first. (about myself → no -시-)

아버지께서 먼저 가세요.

abeojikkeseo meonjeo gaseyo

Father is going first. (about my father → -시-)

Same verb, same politeness toward the listener — the only difference is who the sentence is about. About your father: 가세요. About yourself: 가요, never ×저는 가세요.

💡

Ask one question before every honorific decision: "Who is this sentence about?" If it's someone you respect, add -(으)시-. If it's you, never. -시- points at the subject — not the listener, and not the speaker.

-시- and speech level are two independent dials

Learners often collapse two things that Korean keeps strictly apart:

Speech level (해요체, 합니다체, 반말…) is about who you are talking to — how polite you are toward the listener. See the six speech levels.
-(으)시- is about who the sentence is about — the subject.

You set each dial independently. You can talk to a close friend (casual level) about a respected grandmother (with -시-), or talk to a stranger (polite level) about yourself (no -시-):

할아버지 오셨어?

harabeoji osyeosseo

Did Grandpa arrive? (casual level toward a friend + -시- honoring Grandpa)

저는 회사원입니다.

jeoneun hoesawonimnida

I'm an office worker. (formal level toward the listener, no -시- about myself)

The first is 반말 to the listener but carries 오셨어 (-시- + past); the second is formal 합니다체 to the listener but has no -시- because it is about the speaker. Keep the dials separate and the system stops feeling contradictory.

💡

Two knobs, set independently: the ending (-요 / -ㅂ니다 / bare) tunes politeness toward the listener; -(으)시- tunes respect toward the subject. 가요, 가세요, 갑니다, 가십니다 are the four combinations — and all four can be correct in the right situation.

A few verbs replace -시- entirely

For most verbs, respect = stem + -(으)시-. But a small set of extremely common verbs have suppletive honorific forms — special stems that stand in for -시- rather than adding it. You will meet them constantly:

Plain verb	Meaning	Honorific
있다	be / stay	계시다 → 계세요
먹다 / 마시다	eat / drink	드시다 · 잡수시다 → 드세요
자다	sleep	주무시다 → 주무세요
말하다	speak	말씀하시다
죽다	die	돌아가시다

앉으세요, 편하게 계세요.

anjeuseyo pyeonhage gyeseyo

Have a seat, make yourself comfortable. (있다 → 계시다 → 계세요)

우리 부모님은 일찍 주무세요.

uri bumonimeun iljjik jumuseyo

My parents go to bed early. (자다 → 주무시다 → 주무세요)

Note that you'd never say ×있으세요 for a respected person's "being somewhere" — you must switch to 계세요. The full set is on the suppletive honorific verbs page.

Common Mistakes

1. Putting -시- on your own actions. You cannot honor yourself.

❌ 저는 지금 집에 가세요.

Wrong — -시- can't apply to yourself; about yourself it's just 가요.

✅ 저는 지금 집에 가요.

jeoneun jigeum jibe gayo

I'm going home now.

2. Dropping the 으 after a batchim. Consonant-final stems need -으시-.

❌ 여기 잠깐 앉세요.

Wrong — 앉다 needs the 으 buffer → 앉으세요.

✅ 여기 잠깐 앉으세요.

yeogi jamkkan anjeuseyo

Please sit here for a moment.

3. Leaving the 으 on a ㄹ-stem. ㄹ-stems drop the ㄹ and take plain -시-, no 으.

❌ 할머니는 시골에 살으세요.

Wrong — the ㄹ drops before -시- and there's no 으 → 사세요.

✅ 할머니는 시골에 사세요.

halmeonineun sigore saseyo

My grandmother lives in the countryside.

4. Using 에게/한테 for an honored recipient. Upgrade to 께.

❌ 할아버지에게 선물을 드렸어요.

Slightly off — an honored recipient takes 께, not 에게 → 할아버지께.

✅ 할아버지께 선물을 드렸어요.

harabeojikke seonmureul deuryeosseoyo

I gave my grandfather a present.

Key Takeaways

-(으)시- is a verbal infix (stem + -(으)시- + ending) that raises the grammatical subject.
Allomorphy: -시- after a vowel or ㄹ-stem (가시다, 사시다), -으시- after a consonant (읽으시다); ㄹ-stems drop the ㄹ.
The honored subject takes 께서, an honored recipient takes 께.
Never use -시- about yourself — you cannot elevate the speaker.
-시- (who the sentence is about) is independent of speech level (who you're talking to).
A few high-frequency verbs use suppletive honorifics instead: 계시다, 드시다, 주무시다.

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