Korean Pronouns
In English,
pronouns are used to refer to someone the speaker and listener talk about after
the main subject has been mentioned as in Donghae is my friend. He is a
soldier. It does not sound natural to repeat the name over and over again.
The pronouns are
categorized into three- the first person (I, we), second person (you, you), and
third person (he, she it, they). They are further categorized into singular and
plural to determine what form of verb to use.
Korean has its own
set of pronouns too but works strikingly different from English. Nevertheless,
they are similar in the things discussed in the second paragraph- the three
levels of person and the singular-plural distinction. However,
Korean pronouns has three level of politeness- the casual, the low polite, and
the high polite as seen in the chart below.
Korean pronouns
work in a different way so I would like to point out some things I have
observed so far. This, however, is subject to revision if errors are found in
any way. So please join the discussion in the comment section to help improve
the content if this post.
1. Some books refer
to he as 그 and she as 그녀 but I rarely, if not never, heard them
spoken by anyone. Perhaps, they are only used as a substitute for translation
matters.
2. The casual
pronouns are used to friends of the same age, close friends, younger people or
children, and someone of lesser status.
3. 너 is
categorized as low polite but it seems not polite at all. You can use it to
people mentioned in #2.
3.
Accordingly, 당신 is used among married couples and is also used when people
argue or not in good terms. You better not use it to be safe.
4. We got used to
refer to our teacher and other superiors as you without
offending them, but in Korean, you have to call them by their titles with 님 to
mean you.
5. Both 사람 and 분 mean person but 분 is
more polite than 사람.
6. The plural
marker 들 is enclosed to indicate that you may or may not used it.
Korean language is not very particular with plural forms.
7. We often disregard pronouns when the context is understandable.
For instance, you see a friend and you want to ask if he or she has eaten, then
you say 밥 먹었어?. There's no need to add 너.