3 · Verb endings and speech levels
Casual speech: -아/어 and the plain -다
banmal, the intimate style
Drop the 요 and you are speaking to a close friend, a younger sibling or a child — and to anybody else, rudely.
Casual speech, 반말, is the polite form without its 요: 가, 먹어, 해, 봐, 마셔; in the past 갔어, 먹었어. "To be" becomes 이야 after a consonant and 야 after a vowel (학생이야, 친구야), and "not to be" 아니야. A question is the same form with a rising voice: 밥 먹었어? Yes is 응, no is 아니, and the pronouns change too: 나 and 내가for I너for you
Next to it stands the plain style, built on the dictionary form: verbs take -는다 after a consonant and a final n plus 다 after a vowel (먹는다, 간다), adjectives keep -다 (좋다), the past is 갔다. Its questions end in -니 (가니?, 먹니?), its commands in -아라/어라 (먹어라) and its suggestions in -자. Parents use it to children, older people to much younger ones, and everybody uses it in diaries and in exclamations: 와, 예쁘다!
Casual speech is for friends of about the same age who have agreed to it, for younger siblings, for children and often between partners. Age counts even by a year or two, and the agreement is usually made out loud: the older person suggests dropping the polite ending. Until then, adults who meet as adults stay with -아요/어요, however friendly they are.
The risk is real. Casual speech to a stranger, a shop assistant, a colleague or anyone older is rude, whatever the words mean and however kind the tone. And once a sentence is casual, everything in it has to be: no 저 or 제가, no 네 for yes. English speakers tend to drop the 요 because it feels like a mere shortening, or to mix a humble 저 into a casual sentence.
The form
| present | 가, 먹어, 해 |
| past | 갔어, 먹었어, 했어 |
| to be, not to be | 학생이야, 친구야, 아니야 |
| plain style | 간다, 먹는다, 좋다 |
| plain question | 가니? 먹니? |
| yes, no | 응, 아니 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
Take 요 off the polite form to get the casual form.
나 지금 집에 가.I'm going home now.
"To be" becomes 이야 after a consonant and 야 after a vowel.
얘는 내 동생이야.This is my younger sibling.
In casual speech the pronouns change as well: 나, 내가, 너.
내가 할게.I'll do it.
The plain -다 form is used to children, in diaries and in exclamations.
와, 눈이 온다!Look, it's snowing!
Yes is 응 and no is 아니.
응, 먹었어.Yeah, I've eaten.
A closer look
Agreeing to drop the polite ending
Between adults, casual speech usually begins with a question. The older person, or the one higher up, offers it: 우리 말 놓을까요?, "shall we drop the formalities?", or simply 편하게 말해, "talk to me casually". If the younger person makes the offer, it can come across as forward, so many wait to be asked.
The switch is not always mutual. A teacher may speak casually to a pupil who answers politely, and an older colleague may use casual speech with a much younger one who keeps 요. What the younger person should not do is start using casual speech unilaterally: that is the step that causes offence.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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you speak to an adult who is younger than you but whom you do not know well, such as a new colleague
keep the polite -아요/어요; age alone does not license casual speech.
지은 씨, 이 자료 좀 봐 줄래요?Jieun, could you have a look at this document?
Being older gives you the right to suggest casual speech, not to use it unasked. Among adults at work, the polite style is the default in both directions.
How to spot it
- 응
- 아니
- 나
- 너
- -야
- -니
Example sentences
너 밥 먹었어?Have you eaten?
응, 아까 먹었어.Yeah, I ate a while ago.
내일 시간 있어?Are you free tomorrow?
이거 진짜 맛있다!This is really good!
엄마, 배고파.Mum, I'm hungry.
민수야, 숙제 다 했니?Minsu, have you finished your homework?
8 more example sentences
어디 가?Where are you going?
나도 그 영화 봤어.I saw that film too.
이거 누구 거야?Whose is this?
아니, 그건 내 거 아니야.No, that's not mine.
빨리 와! 영화 시작해.Come quickly! The film is starting.
오늘 너무 피곤하다.I'm so tired today.
우리 내일 몇 시에 만나?What time are we meeting tomorrow?
얘들아, 저녁 먹어라!Kids, come and have dinner!
Worth knowing (1)
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The plain style in writing
The plain -다 style is also the standard style of newspapers, essays, reports and diaries. There it is not casual at all — it is simply neutral, because a text has no listener to be polite to.
오늘은 하루 종일 비가 왔다.It rained all day today.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
저 lowers the speaker before someone who deserves respect, and casual speech says that no such distance exists. The two cannot stand in one sentence: with a casual ending it has to be 나, and with 저 the ending has to be polite, 저는 지금 바빠요.
Casual speech is not a shortcut but a relationship: drop the yo only where the other person has agreed to it.
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.