I discussed the subject marking particle and the conjugation of simple verbs in the present tense in the deferential polite. Today I’ll show you how to conjugate simple verbs in the standard polite form. I’ll be using the subject marking particle, so this should be a good review of the last post.

Let’s say you want to say, ‘Minji sleeps’ in the standard polite form. To do this, you will need the subject marking particle attached to minji (민지). Since Minji (민지) ends in a vowel, you’ll need the ga (가) particle. You’ll also need to conjugate the verb ‘to sleep’ in the standard polite form. To do this, drop the da (다) in jada (자다), which is the infinitive verb meaning ‘to sleep’. Then add yo (요) to the stem of the verb ‘to sleep’. Altogether it will look like this, jayo (자요). Alright, now to translate ‘Minji sleeps’ in Korean, it would be, Minjiga jayo (민지가 자요).

Now let’s say you want to say ‘Youngmin sleeps’. Since Youngmin (영민) ends in a consonant, you’re going to have to use the e (영민이) particle. Altogether it’ll look like this, Youngmine (영민이). The verb ‘to sleep’ will be conjugated in the same way as it was in the previous example. Altogether ‘Youngmin sleeps’ will be Youngmine jayo (영민이 자요).

Ok, so far you know how to say a simple sentence using the deferential polite and the standard polite. See, Korean isn’t so bad, is it?