#lesson 5

Assignment lesson 4: one point perspective Homework for lesson 5: 1 drawing of an arm and 1 drawing of a hand in Charles Baroque style

안녕! Hi, friends! Welcome to this next Level 1 lesson! I hope these lessons have been helping you out so far! This lesson is an important one because it deals with politely/formally giving commands and asking questions. We attach this -세요 to the ends of verbs to do this! Let’s start!

Using -(으)세요 to Give Polite Commands 

Let’s discuss how we can use this pattern to give commands. You hear this sentence ending all the time, especially with those you meet for the first time. The formula for this is quite simple:

verb stem + (으)세요 = Please [verb] 

Add 으 to verb stems ending in consonants. 

Just add 세요 to those ending in vowels.

-세요 is a shortened version of -셔요, which comes from the suffix -시. In a nutshell, -시 is used to make verbs and adjectives more polite (I may elaborate in a future lesson, but for now let’s just focus on -세요).

If, for example, you are a receptionist at a doctor’s office and want to tell a patient to take a seat in the waiting room, you could say the following:

1. 거기 앉으세요 = Please sit there / Sit there (polite)

앉다 = to sit

앉 + (으)세요 = 앉으세요 = Please sit (could also be translated as just “sit,” but it’s more polite than simply telling someone to sit down)

거기 앉으세요 = Please sit there.

2.  오늘은 공부하세요 = Please study today 

공부하다 = to study

공부하 + (으)세요 = 공부하세요 = Please study

오늘은 공부하세요 = Please study today.

3. 많이 드세요 = Please eat a lot

드시다 = polite version of 먹다, which means “to eat”

Because 드시다 is already a politer version of a verb, it can be just be conjugated as 드세요. Don’t say 먹으세요! 

Waiters/waitresses will often say this phrase when they serve food to customers, so it’s good to know!

I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase “주세요” as well, which literally means “please give [me]”. You can attach 주세요 after any noun to politely ask for it. Let’s look at an example:

4. 계산서 주세요 = Please give me the bill

계선서 = bill

주다 = to give 

주 + (으)세요 = 주세요 = Please give me

계선서 주세요 = Please give me the bill / May I have the bill, please?

5. 짜장면 일인분 주세요 = Please give me one serving of jjajangmyun

짜장면 = jjajangmyun (Korean black bean sauce noodles)

일이분 = one serving (simply attach 이분 to a Sino-Korean number to say the number of servings you want. If you want two servings, for example, say 이인분)

주 + (으)세요 = 주세요 = Please give me

짜장면 일이분 주세요 = Please give me one serving of jjajangmyun / May I have one serving of jjajangmyun, please?

Using -(으)세요 to Politely Ask Questions

-세요 can also be attached to the ends of sentences to ask questions politely. These can be open- or close-ended. For instance:

1. 어디 가세요? = Where are you going?

가다 = to go

가 + (으)세요 = 가세요 = Please go 

Because there is a question mark on the end of this sentence, it simply becomes a more polite question rather than a command. Thus, “가세요?” would mean “Do you go?” or “Are you going?”

어디 가세요? = Where are you going?

2. 확실하세요? = Are you sure?

확실하다 = to be sure / to be certain

확실하 + (으)세요 = 확실하세요 = Please be sure

확실하세요? = Are you sure?

-(으)십시요: An Even More Formal Version of -(으)세요

-(으)십시요 is the same thing as -(으)세요, but is a very formal way of giving commands. You may not hear it as much as -(으)세요, but I just wanted to make note of it so you could recognize it in case you do come across it. It’s still a pretty common sentence ending, so it’s good to know! The formula for adding it to verbs is pretty much the same:

Verb stem + (으)십시요 = Please [verb] 

Add 으 to verb stems ending in consonants.

Just add 십시요 to those ending in vowels.

For example:

계선서 주세요 = 계선서 주십시요

거기 앉으세요 = 거기 앉으십시요

The meanings of these two versions are the same, but those ending in -(으)십시요 are incredibly formal, so you should definitely use it when giving commands to those who deserve an extreme amount of respect. 

And I had to write this in my response paper about lesson 5 ...

Plural Indefinite

When talking about unspecific nouns in plural (e.g. cars) you add an ending to the noun in Danish. This ending can either be -er, -r, -e or none. Below are some examples of when to use each ending.

Plural indefinite nouns ending with -er:

If the noun ends on a consonant (or a vowel that is not ‘e’) you add -er to the end of the noun to make it plural indefinite. Example:

En bil (a car) becomes biler

En blyant (a pencil) becomes blyanter

Træ becomes træer

Plural indefinite nouns ending with -r:

If the noun ends on the vowel ‘e’ you add -r to the end of the noun to make it plural indefinite. Example:

En abe (a monkey) becomes aber

En time (an hour) becomes timer

Plural indefinite nouns ending with -e:

Some nouns that ends on a consonant will have the -e ending instead of the -er ending when plural indefinite. There are about 20% of such nouns. Examples:

En dreng (a boy) becomes drenge

Et skab (a closet) becomes skabe

Plural indefinite nouns with no endings:

Some nouns has no endings when indefinite plural and are exactly the same as the singular indefinite. Examples:

Et år (a year) becomes år

En mus (a mouse) becomes mus

Plural indefinite nouns that changes vowel:

Some nouns changes their vowel when plural indefinite. Examples:

En ko (a cow) becomes køer

En bog (a book) becomes bøger

En mand (a man) becomes mænd

Plural indefinite foreign words:

Some nouns are borrowed from foreign languages. Some of these nouns are conjugated a little differently. Examples:

En mail (a mail)   becomes mails

En konto (an account) becomes konti

Plural Definite

When talking about nouns in specifics and in plural (e.g. the cars) you add an additional ending to the noun (in its plural form). Such endings are either -ne or -ene. Below are some examples of when to use which ending.

Plural definite nouns ending with -ne:

This ending makes up for majority of the nouns in plural definite form.

Biler becomes bilerne

Timer becomes timerne

Skabe becomes skabene

Køer becomes køerne

Plural definite nouns ending with -ene:

År becomes årene

Mus becomes musene

Mænd becomes mændene

Lesson endnote:

As you can tell there are many different endings and rules to apply to nouns. Try and memorize what you can, but don’t sweat it. How to conjugate the nouns will come naturally as you learn Danish and gets exposed to- and immersed in the language, but knowing these rules will get you far!

 To be/ It is / What is it?/ Nouns 

~ 이에요= To be/ it is when added to a word with a final consonant. 

~ 예요 = To be/ it is when added to a word with a final vowel. 

Conjugation

-Added to the end of a word to say “this thing is..”. 이에요 and 예요 are never used on it’s own and must always be added to the end of another word, usually a noun, proper noun or adjective.

For example:  Noun +  ~ 이에요/  ~ 예요

-Water = 물. It is water= 물이에요. (물’s final character ㄹ is a consonant.) 

-Bag = 가방.  It is a bag = 가방이에요. (가방’s final character ㅇ is a consonant.)

-Office = 사무실.  It is an office = 사무실이에요. (사무실’s final character ㄹ is a consonant.)

-School = 학교. It is a school= 학교예요. ( 학교’s final character ㅛ is a vowel.)

-Student = 학생. I am a student= 학생이에요. (학생’s final characterㅇ is a consonant.) 

-Me = 저*.  It is me = 저예요. (저 ‘s final characterㅓis a vowel.)

-Toy = 장난감. It is a toy= 장난감이에요. ( 장난감’s final characterㅁ is a consonant.)

Note: You can easily turn these statements into questions by changing your intonation at the end, there’s no change in grammar or structure, which is super useful. For example, you can say: 

“학생이에요”, meaning that you are a student, and then say exactly the same thing but as a question; “학생이에요?” to ask someone else if they are a student! Or you could say “사무실이에요” to say “this is an office” and exactly the same thing with question intonation; “사무실이에요?” to ask “is this an office?” Do note, though, that those examples aren’t totally grammatically correct, but it doesn’t matter right now because you’ll learn how to use them in full sentence form in the next two lessons by combining them with “this” “the” and “that”, and once you know this part, it’s super easy to form sentences with them! 

What is it? 

What is it = 뭐예요? 

뭐예요 is a phrase you might have heard a few times before. It’s a really common phrase but it’s also super simple. It literally means “what is it?” but can also mean “what is this” “what is that” when you combine it with the this/the/that words that will be taught in the next two lessons. (That said, native Korean speakers often omit the “this/the/that” part altogether and just say “뭐예요” to mean what is it/ what is this/ what is that.) 

* 저. Quick note to say that 저 is one of absolutely loads of ways of saying “me” or “I”, so don’t get put off if you see it written as other ways! 저 is just a medium formality way of saying it.