1 · Verb endings and speech levels
Requests: -(으)세요 and -아/어 주세요
asking politely
-(으)세요 invites someone to do something, -아/어 주세요 asks them to do it for you, and -(으)십시오 is the formal version of signs and announcements.
The everyday polite request is -세요 after a vowel and -으세요 after a consonant: 가세요, 보세요, 앉으세요, 읽으세요. A stem in l drops its l: 열다 → 여세요, 만들다 → 만드세요. This is the honorific -시- with the polite ending, which is why it sounds respectful: 여기 앉으세요, "please sit here".
When the action is a favour to you, use the verb in -아/어 followed by 주세요, "give me the doing of it": 도와 주세요 (please help me), 기다려 주세요 (please wait for me), 사진 좀 찍어 주세요 (could you take a photo for me). For a thing rather than an action, put the noun before 주세요: 물 주세요, "water, please". The little word 좀, "a bit", makes any request softer.
The formal request is -(으)십시오: 앉으십시오, 들어오십시오. It belongs to announcements, signs, machines and formal speeches, and in conversation it sounds stiff. For "please don't", see -지 마세요 in the topics on negation.
English speakers tend to add 주세요 to everything because it feels like "please". But 주세요 means that you are the one who benefits, so inviting a guest to eat or to sit down with it sounds as if you needed them to do it for you. For an invitation, -(으)세요 is right: 드세요, 앉으세요. Several fixed phrases are built this way: 어서 오세요 (welcome), 안녕히 가세요 (goodbye), 맛있게 드세요 (enjoy your meal).
The form
| after a vowel | 가세요, 오세요, 쉬세요 |
| after a consonant | 앉으세요, 읽으세요, 찾으세요 |
| stem in l | 여세요, 만드세요 |
| a favour for me | 도와 주세요, 기다려 주세요 |
| give me a thing | 물 주세요, 영수증 주세요 |
| formal | 앉으십시오, 들어오십시오 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
After a vowel stem the request is -세요, after a consonant stem -으세요.
여기에 이름을 쓰세요.Please write your name here.
Use -아/어 주세요 when the action is a favour to you.
잠깐만 기다려 주세요.Please wait a moment.
For a thing you want, 주세요 follows the noun directly.
물 좀 주세요.Could I have some water, please?
Signs, announcements and formal speeches use -(으)십시오.
안전선 뒤로 물러서십시오.Please stand back behind the safety line.
A stem in l drops the l.
창문 좀 여세요.Open the window, please.
A closer look
Goodbye in two directions
Korean has two goodbyes, and both are requests. 안녕히 가세요, "go in peace", is said to the person who is leaving. 안녕히 계세요, "stay in peace", is said by the person leaving to the one who stays.
So a guest leaving a shop says 안녕히 계세요 and hears 안녕히 가세요 in return. When both people leave at once — two colleagues parting outside the station — both say 안녕히 가세요. The choice depends only on who moves.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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the verb has an honorific word of its own
the request uses that word: 드세요 (eat, drink), 주무세요 (sleep), 계세요 (stay).
할머니, 안녕히 주무세요.Good night, Grandma.
A request in -(으)세요 already contains the honorific, so verbs with a special honorific form use it here too.
How to spot it
- -세요
- -으세요
- 주세요
- -십시오
- 좀
Example sentences
이쪽으로 오세요.Come this way, please.
천천히 말해 주세요.Please speak slowly.
여기 앉으세요.Please sit here.
영수증 주세요.Could I have the receipt, please?
사진 좀 찍어 주세요.Could you take a photo for me, please?
들어오십시오.Please come in.
8 more example sentences
맛있게 드세요.Enjoy your meal.
문 좀 닫아 주세요.Could you close the door, please?
여기에서 기다리세요.Please wait here.
다시 한번 말씀해 주세요.Could you say that again, please?
조금만 깎아 주세요.Could you give me a small discount?
안녕히 계세요.Goodbye. (said when leaving)
신발을 벗으세요.Please take your shoes off.
카드를 넣어 주십시오.Please insert your card.
Worth knowing (1)
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좀: the word that softens
좀 literally means "a little", but in a request it works like an English "could you" or "just": it makes the request lighter. Without it, a request is not rude, only more direct.
소금 좀 주세요.Could you pass the salt, please?
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
주세요 asks for a favour to the speaker. A host who wants a guest to eat is not asking for a favour but offering one, so the right form is the invitation -(으)세요 — and for eating, with the honorific word 드세요.
Seyo invites someone to do something for their own sake; juseyo asks them to do it for you.
Your turn
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