If you need to review how to say “I love you’ in Korean,” please follow this post  3 Ways to Say ‘I Love You’ in Korean.

Photo by KLM

1. Formal: [Sa-lang-hap-ni-da] (사랑합니다. – I love you.)
2. Polite: [Sa-lang-hae-yo] (사랑해요. – I love you.)
3. Informal: [Sa-lang-hae] (사랑해. – I love you.)

If you have a crush on someone, but you are not ready for “I love you” yet, how about “I like you” instead. This Korean verb ‘좋아하다‘  means ‘to like’ in English. Depending on your relationship with whom you are speaking, you can use one of the following expressions.

1. Formal: [jo-a-hap-ni-da](좋아합니다. – I like you.)
2. Polite: [jo-a-hae-yo] (좋아해요. – I like you.)
3. Informal: [jo-a-hae] (좋아해.  – I like you.)

If you want to add the name of your special someone to the above expressions, you can attach ‘-ssi (–씨 )’ or ‘-a/ya (–아/야)’ after his or her name.

• -ssi (–씨 ) is one of the Korean titles that is used to show respect to others among people of equal level (age, social status, etc.). Here are two important tips for you to remember. When you use – 씨  with someone’s name you can either attach –씨  to someone’s full name or to the first name. When the speaker adds – 씨 after someone’s last name, such as 박 씨  or  이 씨, this implies that the speaker consider himself/herself to be in a higher social status than the listener. In most cases, this can be considered as rude as the listener may feel they are being spoken down to.
• -a/ya (–아/야) is used in an informal relationship, between close friends or when the speaker is older or superior than the listener.

* When a Korean name ends in a consonant, -a (–아) is added to the name.

ex) Ji-min (지민) + -a (–아): Ji-min-a (지민아)

지민  ends in a consonant ‘ㄴ’ in Korean

* When a Korean name ends in a vowel,  -ya(-야)  is added to the name.

ex) Syu-ga (슈가) + ya (–야) : Syu-ga- ya (슈가야)

     슈가 ends in a vowel, ‘ㅏ’ in korean.

Here are three examples on how to say I like you with someone’s name:

1. Formal: [Ji-min-ssi, jo-a-hap-ni-da](지민 씨, 좋아합니다. – Jimin, I like you.)
2. Politel: [Ji-min-ssi, jo-a-hae-yo] (지민 씨, 좋아해요. – Jimin, I like you.)
3. Informal: [Ji-min-a , jo-a-hae] (지민아, 좋아해.  – Jimin, I like you.)

Please remember that you can use above expressions in several different occasions not just for someone you have a crush on or you are in love with. You can also use them to demonstrate your preference on something with ‘좋아해요’ or ‘사랑해요’.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

감사합니다! (Thank you!)