Introduce yourself: 저는 …이에요 / 예요

Two sentences, one frame

Play both. You know every word but the last piece: 저 is “I”, 학생 is “student”, 의사 is “doctor”. The sentences mean “I am a student” and “I am a doctor”.

Notice the order: I, then the noun, then the part that does the work of “am”, glued to the end of the noun. There is no word for “a”. For now treat 저는 as one chunk meaning “I”. Then compare the two endings: they are similar but not the same. What differs?

이에요 after a consonant, 예요 after a vowel

Look at the last letter of each noun. 회사원 and 선생님 end in a final consonant, and they take 이에요. 가수 ends in a vowel, and it takes 예요. That is the whole rule, and it is about ease of saying: the consonant needs a vowel to link onto.

And it does link. 회사원이에요 is said 회사워니에요. The ending is the same for I, you, he, she and it. Korean has no am / is / are to choose between.

This is the everyday polite style. It is the one level of politeness this course teaches, and it is safe with strangers.

My name is …

제 means “my”. It is the humble “my” that pairs with 저. 이름 is “name”. So 제 이름은 opens the sentence “my name is …”; treat it as a chunk, as you did 저는.

Names follow the same rule as any noun. 민수 ends in a vowel: 민수예요. 수진 ends in the consonant ㄴ: 수진이에요. For your own name, spell it in Hangul the way Koreans would say it, then check whether the last block has a final.

A full introduction

Here is the whole exchange: a greeting, your name, and a closing phrase. 저는 지아예요 is the shortest way to give your name: “I am Jia.”

만나서 반갑습니다 means “nice to meet you”. Like the two thank-yous, it is a fixed formal phrase with the 습니다 ending, and it is always said this way on a first meeting. The pronunciation is 반갑씀니다: ㅂ before ㄴ is said as ㅁ, as in 감사합니다.

씨 is for other people

When you speak about or to another adult, add 씨 after their name: 민수 씨. It is a politeness tag, a little like “Mr” or “Ms”, but it comes after the name and is normally used with the given name.

You never put 씨 on your own name. Compare the two sentences: Minsu is someone else, so he gets it. Jia is the speaker, so she says only 저는 지아예요.

씨 is for people of about your own standing. A teacher is addressed as 선생님, not by name with 씨.