Korean Speech Levels vs. Honorifics

Korean speech levels can be thought of as politeness levels. Typically they are verb endings that demonstrate the formality of a situation.
For example, you might use an informal speech level with friends, someone the same age as you, or someone younger than you. You would use the standard speech level for everyday communication. You could use the formal version when giving a speech or a news broadcast. You can use different speech levels to talk about yourself.

Honorifics are used to show respect to the listener or the third person you’re talking about. Honorifics are usually special words (nouns, verbs, verb endings, pronouns, etc) used to show respect. Korean honorifics are typically used for speaking to someone older than you or higher than you in the social hierarchy. You cannot use honorifics to talk about yourself.

Honorifics are incredibly important in Korean culture for proper conversation and relationship-building. Forgetting to use them can be seen as very disrespectful.
As influenced by Confucianism which places high importance on social status and age. Koreans use honorifics to show respect to people who are older or of higher status. 

The first step to knowing which honorific to use is to know who you’re talking to. If you don’t know the person well, it’s best to use an honorific.
If you’re not sure which honorific is best, it’s okay to ask what someone prefers.

Practically, we can categorize people into three groups:
common people (사람), people who deserve our respect (분), and people who do not deserve our respect (놈, for example, a thief: 도둑)

Let’s examine how to construct the honorific form case by case.
1. First person: we don’t use the honorific form when talking about ourselves.
2. Second person: we use the honorific form if our conversation partner is a 분 and is also the subject of the sentence.

• Professor, have you already eaten the apple? (We use the honorific form.)
• Grandfather, what are you doing here? (We use the honorific form.)
• Professor, my friend did not come to school (We do not use the honorific form.)

3.Third person: it is used not based on the status of the person we are talking to, but rather if the subject of the sentence is a 분.

• The boss is in his office. (We use the honorific form.)
• My father’s computer is good. (We do not use the honorific form.)

Korean Honorific Suffix 님 (nim)
The use of 님(nim) is often attached to people’s names or titles, and it roughly translates into Mr. Name or Mrs./Ms. Name.  
님 is a way to show respect to someone older and is used as the more formal version of a person’s title or relationship.
For example:

–할아버지 = hal-abeoji (is similar to Grandpa, compared to 할아버님= hal-abeonim

(which is more formal and respectful) similar to Grandfather.
 

Korean Honorific Suffix 씨 (ssi)

The use of 씨(ssi) is similar to the use of 님 (above) but it is only attached to people’s names (given name, family name, or full name) to represent formality and politeness.

For example, if you are waiting at the doctor’s office, the receptionist may call your name with 씨 attached to the end because it is a professional situation, and therefore more formal.

– Suzy 수지 (informal)  compared to   Suzy 수지 씨  (formal)

The honorific form entails different conjugations of verbs. In some cases, one must also substitute nouns with their honorific forms and use honorific particles. In order to make a verb honorific, we must first check to see if the stem has a batchim. If the stem does not have a batchim, we simply put the suffix 시 between the stem and the declination of the verb. If the stem does have a batchim, we add the suffix 으시
 

Other Common Korean Honorifics

군 (goon)

This honorific is not as common as 씨, but it basically means the same thing. This is used for young, unmarried males in a formal occasion. 
군 can be attached after the first or last name. It is better to not use this one in everyday conversation as it can be seen as condescending since it may suggest submissiveness or certain gender roles. 

양 (yang)

This is the same as 군, but for young and unmarried females. 
 

선배 (sun-bae)

This is for someone who is your senior in age or experience that you may encounter at the workplace or at school. 
This one can stand alone, so you can just call someone 선배 without having to attach a name. 
It is also possible to use this with someone who is younger than you if they have more experience than you.
 

후배 (hu-bae)

This is the alternative to 선배 as it is used for the person who is more junior in standing. 
Once again, this can stand alone and can be used for someone older if they are less experienced.
 

귀하 (gwi-ha)

This honorific is very formal and one you’ll likely see more often in writing than in conversation.
귀하 translates to “dear”, so you’ll see it most often in formal letters or when a company is addressing a valuable client, often with the full name: 윤희철 귀하 (Yoon Hee-chul-gwi-ha).