Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 3 - Korean for Beginners #2 (Lessons 61 to 90) ᚛ Lesson 90 - Soften a question in Korean [-(으)ㄴ가(요)] [-나(요)] [-니]

Soften a question in Korean [-(으)ㄴ가(요)] [-나(요)] [-니]

In this course: ㄴ가 / 은가 / ㄴ가요 / 은가요 / 나 / 나요 / 니 / 혹시

We saw in a previous chapter that in order to ask a question in Korean, one simply raises his/her intonation at the end of the sentence. In this course, we are going to see that other possibilities exist, which allow one to ask a question more softly and indirectly.

Basically, the normal conjugation ending -아/어(요) is direct. It is possible to appear a little more polite by asking a question softly. In English, we could compare that to:

• Direct question : You've eaten?
• Soft question : Have you eaten?

The second sounds a little more polite, softer, without being formal.

Ask a question in Korean with -(으)ㄴ가(요)

The ending -(으)ㄴ가(요) is used after a descriptive verb as well as after 이다. We use this ending in the following manner:
[Stem](으)ㄴ가(요)

Note that action verbs cannot use this ending; only descriptive verbs can.

• If the stem ends in a vowel: [Stem]ㄴ가(요)?
• If the stem ends in a consonant: [Stem]은가(요)?

그 남자는 우리 아버지의 친구인가요?
→ This man, is he a friend of our father?

친구가 많은가?
→ Do you have a lot of friends?

지금 어디에 계신가요?
→ Where are you now?

이 단어는 무슨 뜻인가?
→ What does this word mean? (Lit: This word is what meaning?)

Note that it isn't possible to use the -(으)ㄴ가(요) structure in the past tense. For that, we use the 나(요) ending that we are going to see in the following section.

Ask a question in Korean with -나(요)

Unlike the ending -(으)ㄴ가(요),we use -나(요) after an action verb (and not after a descriptive verb) as well as after 있다 and 없다. We use the ending -나(요) in the following manner:
[Stem]나(요)?

Note that while this structure is used to ask a question to someone else, even though in the polite style the -나요 ending is very widely used, the casual style with -나 is generally used by old men and is seldom used by the youngest generations.

지금 극장에 가나?
→ Is he going to the cinema now?

식사하셨나요?
→ Have you eaten?

사과 있나요? 없나요?
→ Are there apples? (Or) are there none?

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Note that since the -(으)ㄴ가(요) ending cannot be used in the past tense, descriptive verbs conjugated to the past tense also use the -나(요) structure.

그렇게 많이 배고팠나요?
→ Were you hungry that much?

Ask a question in Korean with -니

Softening with 혹시

Summary table of structure

Exercises

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