KOREAN LANGUAGE TUTORIAL

LESSON 44

Korean Lesson: Lessons 44

The Imperative Mood
There are many (many!) ways to end a sentence. Depending on who you are speaking to (and a whole bunch of other factors) the way you end a sentence can vary tremendously. If you just wanted to say “I will eat rice,” some of the ways you can say this are:
나는 밥을 먹겠다
나는 밥을 먹겠어
저는 밥을 먹겠어요
저는 밥을 먹겠습니다
나는 밥을 먹을 것이다
나는 밥을 먹을 거다
나는 밥을 먹을 것이야
나는 밥을 먹을 거야
저는 밥을 먹을 것입니다
저는 밥을 먹을 겁니다
저는 밥을 먹을 것이에요
저는 밥을 먹을 거예요
All of those mean exactly the same thing. In the imperative mood as well, there are many different ways you can give a command to somebody. Lets cover these from the least formal, to the most formal.
Imperative mood: Verb stem + ~아/어
The easiest (and least formal) way to give a command in Korean is simply by adding 아/어 to a verb stem. There isn’t much more to explain, so I will show you some examples:
밥을 천천히 먹어 = Eat your food slowly
열심히 공부해! = Study hard!
Notice that in both English and Korean, the subject isn’t usually used in a sentence when giving a command. This is because the person you are giving the command to is usually the subject, so it is omitted.
You can use this form when you are giving a command to somebody who is much younger than you, or somebody who you are close to. Saying something like “빨리 가!” to your superior would most likely warrant a slap in the face.
You can actually just add “요” to those examples shown above. Doing so would transform the examples I showed you into more formal versions of the same sentence.
In addition to adding 아/어(요) to a verb stem, there are other ways you can give a command.
Imperative mood: Verb stem + ~아/어라
Another way to give a command in Korean is by adding ~아/어라 to a verb stem. The formality is similar to the 아/어 form you learned previously. Some examples:
빨리 가라! = Go fast!
그렇게 해라! = Do it like that
However, the ~아/어라 form is generally used by much older people (parents or grandparents) when they are giving orders to their children/grandchildren. As I said, the formality is very similar (if not the same) as using ~아/어, but I would much prefer to use ~아/어 over ~아/어라.  One time I said something to my girlfriend like “가라” and she just laughed and said “Who are you? My grandfather?”
If you want to give a command to somebody in a formal way, check out the next section.
Imperative Mood: Verb stem + ~세요
I’m sure most of you reading this are already quite familiar with the ~세요 form, as it is usually one of the first things that people learn when they study Korean. I waited until Lesson 40 to teach it to you because I thought that there was more important things to learn first.
Anyways, When you want to give somebody a command in a formal way, you should add ~세요 to a verb stem:
수고하세요! = work hard! (A common greeting when people leave a place of business)
열심히 운동하세요! = work out hard!
먼저 가세요! = Go first
안녕히 가세요 = “go in peace” – which also means “bye,” said to the person going
안녕히 계세요 = “stay in peace” – which also means “bye,” said to the person staying. The formal “계시다” is used in this sentence (계 + 시(formal ending) + 세요).
Remember that because ~세요 starts in ㅅ, it can often create irregulars. If ㅅ is added to a verb stem that ends in a consonant, 으 should be added:
이 것을 받으세요 = Take this (receive this)
If ‘으’ is added, it can change the stem of some words ending in ㄷ:
걷다 = to walk
걷다 + 세요 = 걷 + 으 + 세요
걷 + 으 + 세요 = 걸으세요
걸으세요 = walk!
A similar phenomenon occurs when adding ~세요 to words ending in ㅅ:
짓다 = to build
짓다 + 세요 = 짓 + 으 + 세요
짓  + 으 + 세요 = 지으세요
지으세요 = build!
One weird thing, is that people rarely (if ever) say 세요 connected to 먹다 (to eat). Instead, it is much more natural to add ~세요 to 들다 (which is a more formal way to say “eat”). Another irregular also comes into place when words end in the consonant ㄹ:
들다 = to eat (formal)
들다 + 세요 = 드세요
Other examples:
열다 = 여세요
팔다 = 파세요
There is actually an even more formal version the imperative mood that you should be aware of. You will learn about this after you learn about another usage for the ending ~세요.
Using ~세요 to Make Questions
Although adding ~세요 to a verb stem usually creates the imperative mood, It is possible to create a sentence with the ending ~세요. This is a formal way to ask questions, and is done less often than the other ways you learned to ask questions in Lessons 21 and 22. Nonetheless, you can use the 세요 ending to form a question:
어디 가세요? = Where are you going?
Imperative Mood: Verb stem + ~십시오
Adding ~십시오 to a verb stem is done in the same manner as when adding ~세요. That is, the same irregulars come in to play. However, adding ~십시오 to a verb stem allows you to give a command very formally. You will most likely only use this form in a few circumstances, as it is usually reserved for times when speaking to people who deserve a ridiculous amount of respect. If you were to meet your girlfriend/boyfriend’s grandparents for the very first time, you might use this ending. You will also see it sometimes in government buildings/stores/restaurants on signs telling you to “come again” or stuff like that. For example:
여기서 내리십시오 = Get off here (I think this is the message that is broadcasted in the Seoul subway at every stop, telling you to “get off”)
Now that you know how to say “do this,” it is time to learn how to say “don’t do this”
Negative Imperative Mood: ~지 말다
If you want to say “don’t do ___” you need to use a very special word, 말다. 말다 technically means “to not do,” but it is only ever used when connected to another verb with ~지. It would look like this:
공부하지 말다
가지 말다
먹지 말다
However, those examples above do not mean anything. You should only use ‘말다’ when telling somebody not to do something. If you want to give a command to somebody to say “don’t do _____” you need to use the ~지 말다 form in addition to using the imperative mood forms I taught you earlier in the lesson.
Very confusing, lets look at some examples.
Lets choose the word 가다 (to go). If you wanted to tell somebody to go, you should take that word and remove the stem (가). Once the stem is removed, you could add one of many ‘imperative mood’ endings to it. You could say (in order of formality):
가!
가라!
가요!
가세요!
가십시오!
The same is done when telling somebody not to do something. Lets start with our word first: 가지 말다 (to not go). ). If you wanted to tell somebody to not go, you should take that word and remove the stem (가지 말). Once the stem is removed, you could add one of many ‘imperative mood’ endings to it. You could say (in order of formality):
1) 가지 말아! 가지 마! (or 가지 마라)
2) 가지 말아라 !
3) 가지 말요! 가지 마요! (or 가지 마라요)
4) 가지 마세요!
5) 가지 마십시오!
Notice that numbers 1 and 3 go against the normal grammatical rules of Korean. Instead of saying 가지 말아 and/or 가지 말요, 가지 마 (or 가지 마라) and/or 가지 마요 are used.
Remember that the ~지 말다 form is only used when giving somebody negative commands in the imperative mood. It is not a substitute for ~지 않다 or 안 하다.
Some examples of this negative imperative mood being used:
너무 빨리 먹지 마세요 = Don’t eat your food too fast!
부끄러워하지 마세요 = Don’t be shy!
그렇게 하지 마! = Don’t do it like that!
Before we finish this lesson, there is still one more thing you should know about 말다.
~하지 말고
You already know the connector ‘고’ is used to connect two clauses in Korean. Often times, if you want to say, “don’t do this, but/and…” you can use 고 after 말다. For example:
매일 같은 운동을 하지 말고 많이 쉬세요 = Don’t do the same exercise every day, and get lots of rest
그렇게 하지 말고 내 말을 들어봐 = Don’t do it like that, and listen to what I have to say
Giving Directions
Now that you know how to give people commands, you are able to give people directions. Check out the following list for commonly used direction-like sentences:
오른 쪽으로 가세요 = Go right
왼 쪽으로 가세요 = Go left
직진하세요 = Go straight
건물을 지나가서 오른 쪽으로 가세요 = Go past the building, then go right
건물을 지나가서 오른 쪽으로 가지 말고 계속 직진하세요 = Go past the building, then don’t turn right, but keep going straight