Imperatives

Imperatives - 해, 하지마

Imperative
Positive
Negative
Informal
먹어
하지마
가지마
먹지마
Formal
해요
가요
먹어요
하지마요
가지마요
먹지마요
Honorific
하세요
가세요
드세요
하지마세요
가지마세요
드시지마세요


The informal form is used among very close friends or when talking to a younger person who is very close to you in informal situations.

The formal form and the honorific form are used in formal situations. However, if I were to choose which one to use, I would choose the honorific form because the formal form is a bit casual-ish. It is safe to use the honorific form if you are unsure which one to use.

Note: The honorific form of verbs is present in Korean such as:

먹다 → 드시다 = eat
자다 → 주무시다 = sleep
죽다 → 돌아가시다 = die, pass away

먹어's honorific form is 드세요. It is usually used when talking to people above your age or in formal situations.

Rules

Informal positive (Imperative) = Present positive (spoken Korean)
  • 해! = Do!
  • 저리 가! = Go over there! (Leave me alone!)
  • 이 과자 좀 먹어. = Eat some of these snacks.
  • 물 좀 마셔. = Drink some water.

Informal negative = Take 다 off a plain form of verbs and attach 지마 to it.
  • 가지마! = Don't go!
  • 이 영화는 보지마! = Don't watch this movie!
  • 이거는 먹지마. = Don't eat this.
  • 이 책은 읽지마. = Don't read this book.


Formal positive and negative = Attach 요 to informal forms

Honorific positive = 
1. Take 다 off a plain form of verbs and then attach 세요 to verbs without a final consonant.
2. Attach 으세요 to verbs with a final consonant.
3. For verbs with a final consonant of ㄹ, drop it off and attach 세요 to it.
  • 가세요! = Please go!
  • 이리 오세요. = Please come here.
  • 빨리 떠나세요! = Please leave quickly!
  • 어서 드세요. = Please eat already.
  • 물고기 손으로 잡으세요. = Please catch the fish with your hands.
  • 손 흔드세요! = Please wave your hands! (흔들다 = wave)
  • 빙글빙글 도세요! = Please turn round and round! (돌다 = turn round, spin)

Honorific negative = Take 다 off a plain form of verbs and attach 지마세요.
  • 장난 하지 마세요! = Please don't fool around!
  • 저 곳에는 가지 마세요. = Please don't go to that place. (Keep away from that place.)
  • 박물관에 있는 물건들은 만지지 마세요. = Please don't touch things in the museum.

12 comments:

  1. it was very helpful, thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi it's me again...hehe sorry to bother you so much :)
    So sometimes I see 울지말 or 울지만instead of 울지마
    Why is that??

    ReplyDelete
  3. 울지말아 is just another form of 울지마. For example, 하지마 and 하지말아 are the same expression except that the 말아 form is more assertive.

    울지만 is 울다 + 하지만. Its meaning is "although (I'm) crying".

    ReplyDelete
  4. whats the difference between 저리 and 저 곳?

    ReplyDelete
  5. someone can help me? what is the mean of -ㄹ 테니까 and how to use it?
    what different between -ㄹ 테니까 and -면서?

    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  6. someone can help me? what is the mean of -ㄹ 테니까 and how to use it?
    what different between -ㄹ 테니까 and -면서?

    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awesome! Your blog has helped me so much! Will be sitting for my level 2 Korean final exam in a few days. Wish me luck!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Why does one place a topic particle on 저 곳에는 ?


    저 곳에는 가지 마세요. = Please don't go to that place. (Keep away from that place.)

    Thanks.

    Btw, you blog is fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  9. 는 is used in a different sense, here.

    는 means "in regards to/as far as something is concerned"

    For example,

    저 곳에는 = In regards to that place/as far as that place is concerned.

    저 곳에는 가지 마세요 = In regards to that place, please don't go there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Luke great job it really did complement my other learning materials!

      But I'm a bit surprised about your answer, I would think that it means more an emphasis on that place, like "THAT place (like being concerned with that place in particuliar) don't go there". If not you would just use "저 곳에 가지 마세요". That's what I learned and used for years, please tell me I was wrong since all this time ;)

      Delete
  10. I'm confused about the informal/formal negative imperatives.

    I know with the honorific suffix -세요 that the verb 말다 drops the ㄹ from the stem.

    하지 말다 -> 하지 마 + 세요 -> 하지 마세요

    But if you are just using the informal/formal, why isn't 말다 conjugated the regular way?

    하지 말다 -> 하지 말 + 아요 -> 하지 말아요 ??

    Maybe it's because the negative imperative base is just -지 마 no matter what?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi William,

      You can use both 말아요 and 마세요 depending on how polite you want to be.

      말아요 is the polite form and 마세요 is the honorific form.

      It really depends on how formal you need to be.

      I'd use 말아요 if I was talking to a colleague of my age, and 마세요 for someone who is quite older than me.

      Delete

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