Three ways to end a sentence: 해요, 합니다, 해

One sentence, three endings

학교에 가요. 학교에 갑니다. 학교에 가. All three mean “I go to school”. Only the last word differs.

What changes is not the content but how the speaker stands toward the listener. English does this with word choice and tone, saying “Good morning, sir” or “hey”. Korean builds it into the end of every verb. The first sentence is the style you have spoken all along. This lesson teaches you to recognise the other two. You will keep speaking the first.

The formal ending: ㅂ니다 / 습니다

가요 → 갑니다. 해요 → 합니다. 먹어요 → 먹습니다.

If the stem ends in a vowel, ㅂ goes under its last syllable and 니다 follows: 가 → 갑니다. If it ends in a consonant, 습니다 is added: 먹 → 먹습니다. This style is named after its commonest word, 합니다.

ㅂ before ㄴ is pronounced [ㅁ]: 갑니다 [감니다], 합니다 [함니다], 먹습니다 [먹씀니다].

You already say it

감사합니다. 만나서 반갑습니다. 죄송합니다. 잘 먹겠습니다. Every one of these ends in ㅂ니다 or 습니다. They are formal-style phrases, which is why they never looked like the rest of your Korean.

In this style 이에요 and 예요 both become 입니다: 학생이에요 → 학생입니다. You would hear that in a job interview or a presentation.

Where you will hear it

Formal questions end in ㅂ니까? or 습니까?: 어디에 갑니까? The formal greeting is 안녕하십니까?, the 합니다-style partner of 안녕하세요.

This is the voice of public Korean. On a platform: 지하철이 옵니다 — the train is arriving. In the weather report: 오늘 날씨는 맑습니다. Also in speeches, in the news, and from staff addressing customers. You need to understand it; in conversation nobody expects you to speak it.

The casual style: drop 요

가요 → 가. 먹어요 → 먹어. 뭐 해요? → 뭐 해?

Take 요 away and change nothing else. That is the casual style, called 반말 in Korean. A question is still marked only by the rising voice. You have met these forms already, as the middle step when you built 먹어서 or 먹어도 돼요. Here they stand alone as complete sentences.

Casual “is”, and who it is for

저는 학생이에요 → 학생이야. 저는 의사예요 → 의사야. The casual “is” is 이야 after a final consonant and 야 after a vowel.

This style is for close friends of your own age, for children, and inside the family, or for when someone suggests that you drop the 요. With anyone else it is rude, however friendly you mean to be. English has no equivalent danger, so take this literally: to a stranger or anyone older, always 요.

Thanks, hello, sorry: three of each

Thank you: 감사합니다, 고마워요, 고마워. Hello: 안녕하십니까?, 안녕하세요, 안녕. Sorry: 죄송합니다, 미안해요, 미안해. In each set the order is formal, polite, casual.

안녕 is both “hi” and “bye” between friends. And 고마워요 comes from 고맙다, with the ㅂ → 우 change you learned for 추워요. The middle one of each set is always safe.