-(으)ㄹ까요?: 'Shall We? / Shall I? / I Wonder' | Korean Grammar

-(으)ㄹ까요? is one of the most useful endings a beginner can own, because a single question form does three jobs that English splits across separate words: "shall we?", "shall I?", and "I wonder if…". All three share one underlying feeling — the speaker is holding a possibility up in the air and inviting the listener to weigh in, rather than asserting anything. Learn the one form and let the subject and the situation sort out which of the three you mean. This page walks through each job, shows how they are told apart, and contrasts -(으)ㄹ까요? with its more assertive cousin -(으)ㅂ시다.

Forming it

Attach -ㄹ까요 after a vowel stem or ㄹ-stem, -을까요 after a consonant stem:

가다 → 갈까요, 오다 → 올까요, 마시다 → 마실까요 (vowel stems)
먹다 → 먹을까요, 앉다 → 앉을까요 (consonant stems)
살다 → 살까요, 열다 → 열까요 (ㄹ-stems — the stem's own ㄹ serves as the -ㄹ)

The 까 already carries a tense ㄲ, so the whole cluster is pronounced and romanized with kk: 갈까요 → galkkayo.

Job 1: proposal — "shall we?"

With a first-person-plural sense (우리, "we"), -(으)ㄹ까요? proposes a joint action and asks the other person to agree. This is its most common use, and it is softer than -(으)ㅂ시다: where 갑시다 declares "let's go," 갈까요? merely asks "shall we go?", leaving the door open for a no.

우리 커피 마실까요?

uri keopi masilkkayo?

Shall we get some coffee? (proposing to two of us)

배고픈데 뭐 먹을까요?

baegopeunde mwo meogeulkkayo?

I'm hungry — what shall we eat? (먹다 → 먹을까요)

같이 갈까요?

gachi galkkayo?

Shall we go together? (가다 → 갈까요)

Job 2: offer — "shall I?"

Switch the subject to 제가 ("I") and the same ending becomes an offer — "shall I do X (for you)?" You are proposing to act, and asking whether the listener would like you to.

제가 도와줄까요?

jega dowajulkkayo?

Shall I help you? (도와주다 → 도와줄까요)

더운데 창문을 열까요?

deounde changmuneul yeolkkayo?

It's hot — shall I open the window? (열다 → 열까요)

제가 전화할까요?

jega jeonhwahalkkayo?

Shall I make the call? (전화하다 → 전화할까요)

Notice that Jobs 1 and 2 are the same ending — what tells them apart is simply who the subject is. 우리 갈까요? ("we") is "shall we go?"; 제가 갈까요? ("I") is "shall I go?" Korean does not need two different words the way English needs "we" versus "I" plus "shall."

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The proposal and the offer are one ending, disambiguated by the subject alone. 우리 …-(으)ㄹ까요? = "shall we?"; 제가 …-(으)ㄹ까요? = "shall I?" No new form to learn for the offer — just change who is doing it.

Job 3: speculation — "I wonder if / do you think…?"

Now move the subject to a third person or an inanimate thing — something neither you nor the listener controls — and -(으)ㄹ까요? stops proposing and starts wondering. It floats a guess and asks the listener to speculate along with you: "do you think it'll rain?", "I wonder if he'll come."

내일 비가 올까요?

naeil biga olkkayo?

Do you think it'll rain tomorrow? (오다 → 올까요; the weather isn't ours to decide)

그 사람이 올까요?

geu sarami olkkayo?

Do you think he'll come? (wondering about someone else)

내일 날씨가 좋을까요?

naeil nalssiga joeulkkayo?

I wonder if the weather will be nice tomorrow. (좋다 → 좋을까요)

시험이 많이 어려울까요?

siheomi mani eoryeoulkkayo?

Do you think the exam will be really hard? (어렵다, ㅂ-irregular → 어려울까요)

The speculative reading is also the one you use when talking to yourself — drop the 요 and 뭘 먹을까… "hmm, what should I eat…" is pure thinking aloud. And with the copula, 저게 뭘까요? means "I wonder what that is."

저 사람은 누구일까요?

jeo sarameun nuguilkkayo?

I wonder who that person is. (이다 → 일까요)

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The dividing line is who owns the action. If the subject is we/I (something the speaker can carry out), it's a proposal or offer — "shall we/I?" If the subject is someone or something else (out of the speaker's hands), it's speculation — "I wonder if / do you think?" The person tells you which of the three you're hearing.

How to answer each

Because the three jobs are different speech acts, they invite different replies — and mixing this up is a classic learner stumble. A proposal wants agreement, not a factual yes/no:

Proposal 갈까요? → 네, 가요 / 네, 갑시다 / 네, 좋아요 ("yes, let's").
Offer 도와줄까요? → 네, 부탁해요 ("yes, please") / 아니요, 괜찮아요 ("no, it's fine").
Speculation 비가 올까요? → 글쎄요, 올 것 같아요 ("hmm, I think it will") / 안 올 것 같아요 ("I don't think so").

가: 우리 이제 갈까요? 나: 네, 좋아요. 가요.

ga: uri ije galkkayo? na: ne, joayo. gayo

A: Shall we go now? B: Sure, let's. (agreeing to the plan)

가: 비가 올까요? 나: 글쎄요, 올 것 같아요.

ga: biga olkkayo? na: geulsseyo, ol geot gatayo

A: Do you think it'll rain? B: Hmm, I think it will. (a guess, not a fact)

-(으)ㄹ까요? vs. -(으)ㅂ시다, -(으)ㄹ래요?, -(으)ㄹ게요

-(으)ㄹ까요? sits in a family of "future-flavored" endings that beginners blur together. The distinction is all about who is being consulted:

Ending	Force	Example
-(으)ㄹ까요?	softly proposes / offers / wonders — asks the listener to weigh in	같이 갈까요? "shall we go?"
-(으)ㅂ시다	asserts a joint decision — "let's, and I'm taking charge"	같이 갑시다 "let's go"
-(으)ㄹ래요?	asks the listener's own preference / will	같이 갈래요? "do you want to go?"
-(으)ㄹ게요	the speaker's promise / intention (not a question)	제가 갈게요 "I'll go (I promise)"

So 갈까요? consults the group about a shared plan, 갈래요? asks about your wishes, and 갈게요 announces my commitment. For the last two, see -(으)ㄹ래요: volition and -(으)ㄹ게요: promising. The blunter future -겠- and -(으)ㄹ 거예요 are a separate matter — see future -겠어요.

Reframing for English speakers

English forces you to pick the pronoun and the modal up front: "shall we," "shall I," "do you think" are three different phrasings, and choosing wrong is ungrammatical. Korean lets one ending stay neutral and lets the sentence's subject and context do the disambiguating after the fact. The practical upshot is liberating: you do not have to decide in advance whether you are proposing, offering, or wondering — you attach -(으)ㄹ까요? and the choice of subject (우리 / 제가 / a third party) settles it. The only real adjustment is remembering that -(으)ㄹ까요? is tentative by design. It is the collaborative, face-saving way to float an idea, not a firm plan — which is exactly why Korean speakers reach for it so often when they want to be considerate.

Common Mistakes

1. Asserting "I'll do it" where Korean would offer with -(으)ㄹ까요? To offer help, ask "shall I?", don't announce "I will."

❌ (도움을 제안하며) 제가 도와줄 거예요.

Too flat as an offer — 도와줄 거예요 asserts 'I will help.' To offer, ask 도와줄까요?

✅ 제가 도와줄까요?

jega dowajulkkayo?

Shall I help you? (an offer that leaves room to decline)

2. Answering a speculation with a flat fact, not a guess. 올까요? asks you to speculate, so hedge.

❌ 가: 비가 올까요? 나: 네, 와요.

Odd — 올까요? asks for a guess about the future, not a present fact. Hedge: 글쎄요, 올 것 같아요.

✅ 가: 비가 올까요? 나: 글쎄요, 올 것 같아요.

ga: biga olkkayo? na: geulsseyo, ol geot gatayo

A: Think it'll rain? B: Hmm, I think it will. (a guess)

3. Dropping the buffer after a consonant stem. A consonant stem needs the full -을까요, not a bare -까요.

❌ 뭐 먹까요?

Wrong — 먹다 is a consonant stem, so it takes -을까요: 먹을까요, not 먹까요.

✅ 뭐 먹을까요?

mwo meogeulkkayo?

What shall we eat?

4. Confusing 갈까요? with 갈래요? or 갈게요. They consult different people.

❌ (제 결심을 알리려고) 우리 같이 갈까요?

Mismatch — to announce your own decision, use 갈게요, not the consulting 갈까요?

✅ 제가 같이 갈게요.

jega gachi galgeyo

I'll go with you. (a promise — 갈게요, not a proposal)

Key Takeaways

-(으)ㄹ까요? is one ending with three jobs: proposal ("shall we?", subject 우리), offer ("shall I?", subject 제가), and speculation ("I wonder if / do you think?", third-person/inanimate subject).
The subject decides which reading — an action you control (we/I) is a proposal/offer; one you don't is speculation.
It is softer than -(으)ㅂ시다: it asks for agreement rather than asserting the plan.
Answer a proposal with agreement (네, 좋아요), a speculation with a guess (글쎄요, 올 것 같아요) — not with a factual yes/no.
Allomorph: -ㄹ까요 after vowel/ㄹ, -을까요 after a consonant; the 까 is tense (kk).
Keep it distinct from -(으)ㄹ래요? (your preference) and -(으)ㄹ게요 (my promise).

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