When to use 요 in Korean — the polite ending, and when to leave it off

Use 요 at the end of a sentence whenever you are speaking to someone you do not know well, someone older than you, or anyone serving you: a barista, a shop clerk, a taxi driver, your teacher. Leave it off only with close friends your own age and with children, and even then only after they have made it clear that is what they want.

That is the whole rule for a beginner, and it covers almost every conversation you will have in your first year in Korea. The rest of this guide shows what 요 looks like in real sentences, the three moments in Seoul where learners most often get it wrong, and what the two endings without 요 are for.

What 요 does

요 is not a word with a meaning of its own. It is a polite marker that sits at the very end of a sentence and tells the listener "I am being polite to you". Almost every ending you learn in Level 1A already has it built in.

The verb ending is the one you will use most. Take 다 off the verb and look at the last vowel: ㅏ or ㅗ takes 아요, any other vowel takes 어요, and every 하다 verb becomes 해요. Some forms shrink when you say them, 보다 becomes 봐요 and 마시다 becomes 마셔요, and one verb breaks the rule, 모르다 becomes 몰라요. A statement and a question have the same form. Only your voice changes: 먹어요 going down is "I eat", 먹어요 going up is "do you eat?".

• 저는 학생이에요.I am a student.1A
• 물 있어요? — 네, 있어요.Is there water? — Yes, there is.1A
• 커피 주세요.Coffee, please.1A
• 한국어를 공부해요.I study Korean.1A
• 뭐 해요? — 책을 읽어요.What are you doing? — I'm reading a book.1A

Three moments in Seoul

The angle that matters is not grammar but who is listening. Here are the three places where a beginner's 요 is tested every day.

At a cafe. The person behind the counter is a stranger doing their job. Everything you say to them ends in 요, and everything they say to you will too. 커피 주세요 is complete and polite. The same sentence without 요, 커피 줘, is what you would say to a close friend, and to a barista it sounds like an order barked at a servant.

At a convenience store. Short exchanges, often one word each. This is where 요 on a bare noun earns its place. If the clerk asks what you want and you answer 물요, that is polite. If you answer 물 on its own, it is not rude exactly, but it is bare, the way "water" with no "please" sounds in English.

In the classroom, or with anyone older. Your teacher, a friend's parents, the older woman who runs the shop downstairs: all 요, every sentence, for as long as you know them. Koreans do not switch to casual speech with older people because they have become friendly. Age keeps the 요 in place.

요 on its own word

Once you have the sentence endings, you meet a second use that beginners find odd at first: 요 attached to a single word. A Korean clerk, teacher or friend will often ask a short question, and the natural answer is one word plus 요.

The pattern is simple. After a vowel, 요 goes straight on: 커피요, 저요. After a consonant you will often hear 이요: 학생이요, 물이요. Both 물요 and 물이요 are heard in Seoul, and either is fine for a learner.

• 누구예요? — 저요.Who is it? — Me.1A
• 뭐 주세요? — 물요.What would you like? — Water.1A
• 학생이에요? — 네, 학생이요.Are you a student? — Yes, a student.1A

The two endings without 요

Two sets of endings have no 요, and they sit on opposite sides of it.

The formal style, 입니다 and -(스)ㅂ니다, is more formal than 요, not less. You hear it in the news, in interviews and speeches, at work, and when someone introduces themselves in front of a group. 학생이에요 and 학생입니다 mean the same thing; the second sounds official. In our classes we keep talking with 이에요/예요 and the 요 endings, and we ask you to recognise 입니다 when you hear or read it, and to use it for a formal self-introduction. A common slip is to add 요 on top of it. 감사합니다 is already polite. 감사합니다요 is not a Korean sentence.

Casual speech, with no polite ending at all, 먹어 and 학생이야, is the other side. It is for close friends your own age, for children, and for family who are younger than you. It is taught in Level 2B, and there is a reason it comes that late. Knowing the form is easy. Knowing when a Korean friend actually wants you to use it is the hard part, and you need a year of listening before you can judge that.

• 학생이에요. = 학생입니다.I'm a student. (polite / formal)1A
• 안녕하세요. 저는 민수예요.Hello. I'm Minsu.1A
• 학교에서 공부해요.I study at school.1A

The mistake we see most

In our classes in Seoul the mistake is almost never adding 요 where it does not belong. It is dropping it where it does.

The usual cause is Korean dramas and variety shows. Learners hear 먹어, 가자, 뭐 해 all day, because the characters are friends and family talking to each other, and they copy the sound. Then they use it on a barista, a taxi driver, or a teacher. The listener will not correct you, and will usually stay polite, but you have just spoken to them the way they speak to a small child. Nothing in a drama tells you that the same character would switch to 요 the moment a stranger walked in.

We tried, for a while, teaching the casual forms early so that students could follow dramas. It did not work. Students who learned 먹어 and 먹어요 side by side mixed them in the next conversation, and the mix sounded worse than either on its own. What worked better was the opposite: 요 on every sentence, with no exceptions, for the whole of Level 1. By the time casual speech arrives in Level 2B, 요 is a habit, and dropping it becomes a deliberate choice rather than an accident.

The second thing we noticed is that students who feel unsure of a sentence tend to trail off before the ending, so the 요 gets swallowed. If you are not sure, say the ending louder, not quieter. 요 is the part your listener is waiting for.

Our own grammar page for -아요/어요 explains the three forms and the contractions with examples. It does not drill you. The practice set in lesson 5 of Level 1A does, and it is short, so treat it as a first pass rather than the whole job. A free account opens the whole course for 24 hours, which is enough to go through lesson 5 twice.

Questions people ask

Can I use 요 with everyone, even friends?

Yes, and it is the safe choice. A Korean friend your own age may eventually say something like "you can talk comfortably with me", which is the invitation to drop 요. Until that happens, keeping 요 with a friend sounds a little distant but never wrong. Dropping it too early sounds rude.

Is 요 the same as the formal 입니다?

No. Both are polite, but 입니다 is the formal style for speeches, news, interviews and introductions in front of a group. 요 is for ordinary polite conversation, which is most of daily life. You can say both in one day: 입니다 when you introduce yourself to a class, 요 when you talk to the person next to you afterwards.

Why do Koreans sometimes drop 요 with me?

Usually because of age or role: a much older person, or someone who has been given permission to be casual with you, may speak down while you keep speaking up. That is normal in Korean and does not mean you should match them. Keep your 요, and if you are not sure whether someone is inviting you to drop it, you are not being invited.