Lesson 108: 이에요 / 예요 / 입니다, and introducing yourself

The first grammar pattern of the course, and the one everything else is built on: 이다, the copula. It attaches to a noun and turns it into a complete sentence meaning is that noun.

Unlike English to be, 이다 is not a separate word. It is a suffix — it glues onto the end of the noun with no space.

The forms#

Which form you use depends on two things: how formal you are being, and whether the noun ends in a consonant or a vowel.

Casual polite — 해요체#

Statement and question are the same words. Only the intonation changes — up at the end for a question — and in writing, only the question mark.

Formal polite — 하십시오체#

입니다 does not care about the preceding letter, which makes it simpler. Note the pronunciation: 입니다 is [임니다] and 입니까 is [임니까] — the ㅂ 받침 before ㄴ nasalises to ㅁ, the same rule that turned 읽는 into [잉는] in lesson 105.

Statement and question are different words in the formal register (입니다 vs. 입니까) but the same word in the casual one (이에요 for both). So in a formal meeting you must commit to asking or telling before the sentence ends; in casual speech you can let your voice decide.

Introducing yourself#

Four small words carry this:

Plus two particles, met properly in lesson 109 and lesson 112:

• 이 / 가 — subject marker
• 은 / 는 — topic marker

Notice the particle changes with the shape of the sentence: 이름이 when name is the subject being asked about, 이름은 when it is the topic being described.

The six question words#

Two things to take from that table.

The bare word plus 요 is a complete question. 누구요? — who? 언제요? — when? The 요 is the politeness ending doing all the work; without it you are being blunt. This is the cheapest possible way to ask for clarification and it is used constantly.

어떻게 and 왜 do not take 이다. 어떻게예요 and 왜예요 are ungrammatical, as are their formal equivalents. They are adverbs — they modify a verb, so they need a real verb in the sentence: 어떻게 가요? (how do you get there?), 왜 안 왔어요? (why didn’t you come?).

어떻게 is pronounced [어떠케]: the ㅎ of the ㅎ 받침 meets the following ㄱ and fuses into an aspirated ㅋ.

The 세요 variants — 누구세요?, 어디세요? — are the honorific forms, and they are what you use on the phone or to a customer. 누구예요? about a person in front of you is noticeably blunter.

Demonstratives#

Three of them, not two — Korean splits that by distance:

Work culture: the self-introduction at work#

The formal version of the greeting from lesson 101 — 안녕하세요 is upgraded to 안녕하십니까, because a first introduction to a room is exactly the occasion the formal register exists for.

안녕하십니까?
Hello.

처음 뵙겠습니다.
I am pleased to meet you.

(저는) 인사팀 신입 사원 ○○○입니다.
     team    job title   name
I am ○○○, a new employee in the HR team.

잘 부탁드립니다.  [부탁드림니다]
I look forward to working with you.

Vocabulary for that third line:

The order is team, then title, then name — the opposite of an English introduction, which leads with the name. You are placing yourself in the organisation first and identifying yourself second, which is the same instinct that puts the family name before the given name.