2 · Sentence endings with attitude
Promising: -(으)ㄹ게요
a commitment made to the listener
A first-person “I will” offered to the listener: a promise, an offer, or telling them what you are about to do.
After a consonant the ending is -을게요: 먹을게요, 읽을게요, 닫을게요. After a vowel only an l is added to the last syllable, followed by 게요: 가다 → 갈게요, 하다 → 할게요. A stem that already ends in rieul just takes 게요: 만들게요, 열게요. The ending is said with a tense k, [할께요], but always written with 게. In the explanations below, -을게요 stands for both shapes.
The ending commits the speaker to something, with the listener in mind. It answers a request (네, 할게요, “OK, I'll do it”), offers help (제가 들게요, “I'll carry it”), promises (다시는 안 그럴게요) or tells the other person what you are about to do: 먼저 갈게요, “I'll be off, then”. English “I'll” does exactly this job, which makes the ending easy to use well.
It is not a general future. -을 거예요 states a plan or prediction that has nothing to do with the listener: 여름에 제주도에 갈 거예요, “I'm going to Jeju in the summer”. 내일 갈게요, by contrast, means “I'll come tomorrow” — for you, because of you, or as agreed with you. Using -을게요 for your own private plans sounds as if you were promising them to the person in front of you.
Three limits follow from that meaning. The subject is always the speaker, or “we” including the speaker, so the honorific -시- has no place in it. It is never a question: to ask “shall I?”, use -을까요?. And it does not go on adjectives, because nobody can promise to be tall. Among friends it is -을게: 내가 할게; in formal speech -겠습니다 takes its place: 제가 하겠습니다.
The form
| after a vowel | 가다 → 갈게요 |
| after a consonant | 먹다 → 먹을게요 |
| a stem in rieul | 만들다 → 만들게요 |
| stems that change | 듣다 → 들을게요, 돕다 → 도울게요 |
| among friends | 내가 할게. |
| formal counterpart | 제가 하겠습니다. |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
After a consonant the ending is -을게요; after a vowel it fuses with the last syllable.
제가 창문을 닫을게요.I'll close the window.
The subject is always the speaker.
제가 설거지할게요.I'll do the washing-up.
It reacts to the listener: an answer to a request, an offer, or news of what you are about to do.
알겠어요. 내일까지 보내 드릴게요.All right. I'll send it to you by tomorrow.
It is never a question; “shall I?” is -을까요?.
제가 문을 열게요.I'll open the door.
It is spelt with 게, even though it is said with a tense k.
이따가 다시 전화할게요.I'll call you again later.
A closer look
Promise or plan
A colleague asks whether you can come in early tomorrow. 네, 일찍 올게요 is the right answer: you are agreeing to their request. Telling the same colleague about your summer, you say 여름에 부산에 갈 거예요 — a plan of your own, which they are not part of.
Swap the two and the effect is odd in both directions. Answering the request with 일찍 올 거예요 sounds like announcing a decision you had made anyway; describing your holiday with 부산에 갈게요 sounds like asking for permission or making a promise nobody wanted.
Exceptions and special cases (2)
-
the stem ends in rieul (만들다, 놀다, 열다)
only 게요 is added: 만들게요, 놀게요, 열게요 — no 을.
오늘 저녁은 제가 만들게요.I'll make dinner tonight.
The rieul of the stem already is the l the ending needs.
-
the stem changes before a vowel (듣다, 걷다, 돕다)
-을게요 begins with a vowel, so the change happens: 들을게요, 걸을게요, 도울게요.
제가 이사하는 거 도울게요.I'll help you move.
It is the same change as in 들어요 and 도와요.
How to spot it
- -을게요
- 할게요
- 갈게요
- 제가
- 이따가
Example sentences
먼저 갈게요. 내일 봬요.I'll be off, then. See you tomorrow.
제가 계산할게요.I'll get the bill.
집에 도착하면 문자 보낼게요.I'll text you when I get home.
죄송해요. 다음부터는 늦지 않을게요.I'm sorry. I won't be late again.
잠깐만 기다리세요. 금방 올게요.Wait a moment. I'll be right back.
이 책은 다 읽고 돌려 드릴게요.I'll give this book back when I've finished it.
8 more example sentences
제가 사진 찍어 드릴게요.I'll take a photo for you.
알겠어요. 조심할게요.All right. I'll be careful.
오늘은 제가 살게요.Today it's on me.
이따가 다시 올게요.I'll come back later.
열심히 할게요. 잘 부탁드립니다.I'll work hard. I look forward to working with you.
잠깐 화장실 좀 다녀올게요.I'm just going to pop to the toilet.
소금은 조금만 넣을게요.I'll only put in a little salt.
다음에는 꼭 같이 갈게요.Next time I'll definitely come with you.
Worth knowing (2)
-
Said with a tense k, written without one
Because the ending sounds like [께요], it is often misspelt with 께, even by Koreans. The standard spelling is 할게요, 갈게요: the sound is tensed after the l, the letters are not.
내일 연락할게요.I'll get in touch tomorrow.
-
In shops and restaurants
Staff use the ending about themselves to say what happens next: 주문 도와 드릴게요, “I'll take your order”. You will also hear it with -시- aimed at the customer — 이쪽으로 앉으실게요 — a service habit that is widespread but counts as incorrect, because the ending can only belong to the speaker.
주문 도와 드릴게요.I'll take your order.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
-을게요 is a commitment, and a commitment cannot be asked. To invite somebody or to offer something as a question, Korean uses -을까요?: 볼까요?, “shall we watch?”.
Say -lgeyo only about yourself, only to someone, and never as a question.
Your turn
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