Korean Honorifics - Honorific Forms of Address

Honorific Forms of Address

Pronouns in Korean have their own set of polite equivalents, e.g. 저 (jeo) is the humble form of 나 (na, "I") and 저희 (jeohui) is the humble form of 우리 (uri, "we"). However, Koreans usually avoid using the second person singular pronoun, especially when using honorific forms, and often avoid the third person pronouns as well. So, although honorific form of 너 (neo, singular "you") is 당신 (dangsin, literally, "friend" or "dear"), that term is used only as a form of address in a few specific social contexts, such as between two married couples or in an ironic sense between strangers. Other words are usually substituted where possible, e.g. the person's name, a kinship term, a professional title, the plural 여러분 yeoreobun, or no word at all, relying on context to supply meaning instead.