Korean Lesson 15 (어디에서 일하세요)

일하다 = to work

일 : ㅇ[no sound] + ㅣ[i] + ㄹ[l] = [il]
하 : ㅎ[h] + ㅏ[a] = [ha]
다 : ㄷ[d] + ㅏ[a] = [da]

일하다 ⇒ [i leo na da]

일하(stem) + 다(ending)

Basically, Korean language has 3 levels of expressions.

[1] most polite
- when talking to someone who is older than you, or to someone who you don't know well (but we don't use most polite expressions for children.)

[2] polite
- when talking to someone who is older or younger than you (but you don't know them very well)

[3] familiar
- when talking to someone who is younger than you, or to your close friends

★ To make the most polite expressions, add the honorific ending '시' to the stem.
일하다 : 일하(stem) + 시 + 다 = 일하시다

Let's say 'Where do you work?' in Korean. In English, they need the subject 'you', the auxiliary 'do', and the adverb where, but the Korean grammar is much simpler. Just put the verb at the end of the sentence.

English : Where do you work?
Korean : Where work?

[1] most polite
어디에서 일하십니까?
▶ 일하시 + ㅂ니까? = 일하십니까?
▶ 어디에서 where
★ In English, 'where' is an adverb, but in Korean '어디'(where) is a noun, so an adverbial particle '에서' is added to 어디.

어디에서 일하세요?

▶ 일하시 + 어요 ⇒ 일하시어요? {시+어=세(contraction)} = 일하세요?
★ positive vowels(ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅗ, ㅛ) + 아요
★ negative vowels(ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ, ㅣ) + 어요

[2] polite
어디에서 일해요?

▶ '일하다' is a '하다' verb. So, change 하다 to 해, and add '요' to be polite.
▶ 일해 + 요 = 일해요

[3] familiar
어디에서 일해?

▶ 일해요 - 요 = 일해

어디에서 일하니?

▶ 일하(stem) + 니 = 일하니