Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 3 - Korean for Beginners #2 (Lessons 61 to 90) ᚛ Lesson 84 - Strong suggestion in Korean [-자] [-(으)ㅂ시다]

Strong suggestion in Korean [-자] [-(으)ㅂ시다]

Dans ce cours : 자 / ㅂ시다 / 읍시다

In Korean, to strongly suggest acting, it is possible to use the suffixes -자 and -(으)ㅂ시다. That allows one to propose doing something, emphasizing heavily the fact of acting. In English, we use the structure "let's [verb]".

A strong suggestion in the casual style with -자

To strongly suggest acting in the casual style, one uses the suffix -자 in the following manner:
[Stem]자

남산에 가자.
→ Let's go to Namsan.

그 식당에서 밥 먹자.
→ Let's eat (a meal) at this restaurant.

이번 주말에 집 청소하자.
→ Let's clean the house this weekend.

Strong, negative suggestion with -자

Strong suggestion with -(으)ㅂ시다

To make a strong suggestion, we can attach the suffix -(으)ㅂ시다 to verbs in the following manner:

• If the stem ends in a vowel: [Stem]ㅂ시다
• If the stem ends in a consonant: [Stem]읍시다

열심히 공부합시다.
→ Let's study hard.

저녁은 요리해서 먹읍시다.
→ This evening, let's cook, then eat.

새 옷을 입고 사진을 찍읍시다.
→ Let's wear our new clothes and take a photo.

그 레스토랑으로 갑시다.
→ Let's go to this restaurant.

The -(으)ㅂ시다 form has many exceptions. These are the same as those for the honorific structure with -(으)시다.

• ㄹ verbs : 살다 (= to live) → 삽시다
• ㅂ verbs : 돕다 (= to help) → 도웁시다
• ㄷ verbs : 듣다 (= to hear) → 들읍시다
• ㅅ verbs : 짓다 (= to build) → 지읍시다

-(으)ㅂ시다 is a special suffix that can be used in the polite style or in formal situations, but generally towards people of the same level or lower in the social hierarchy, to suggest a collective action. The -(으)ㅂ시다 form is generally not used towards a single person and must not be used towards a group of people containing at least one person who is superior, hierarchically speaking. Basically,  -(으)ㅂ시다 is an imperative form and would be uncomfortable to use. In this case, it's better to make a suggestion in the form of a question, rather than strongly suggesting.

Strong negative suggestion with -(으)ㅂ시다

Summary table of structure

Exercises

Ce livre numérique imprimable contient l’apprentissage de 1000 mots de vocabulaire de niveau intermédiaire répartis en 42 catégories. Il s’agit de la suite directe du premier tome de la série : Coréen - Mes 1000 premiers mots.

Learn more

Comments (0)