Practise Korean with strangers

Korean practice with real speech levels, not textbook ones

Korean speech levels are relational — the form you choose encodes how you see the relationship. With a stranger there is no established relationship, so you have to decide, and that decision is invisible in passive study. Producing it is what teaches it.

Speech levels, particles and ㅋㅋ

What trips Korean learners up once a real person is on the other end.

• Speech levels: 해요체 versus 반말, and switching only once invited
• The particles 은/는 versus 이/가, which behave like Japanese は/が and resist explanation
• Verb endings carrying nuance that vocabulary lists never mention
• Sino-Korean and native numbers, used in different contexts
• Chat slang and consonant abbreviations: ㅋㅋ, ㅇㅇ, ㄱㅅ

Safe first messages in Korean

All in 해요체, which is never wrong with a stranger.

• 안녕하세요, 한국어 공부하고 있어요

  Hello, I am studying Korean

  Polite 해요체 — the correct default with a stranger.

• 반말 해도 돼요?

  Is it okay to use casual speech?

  Always ask rather than assume. Dropping into 반말 uninvited reads as rude.

• 이거 맞아요?

  Is this right?

  Short, and easy for a partner to answer without breaking their flow.

• 한국어로 뭐라고 해요?

  How do you say it in Korean?

  Keeps you inside Korean instead of falling back to English.

Slips Korean speakers notice

Pronouns, politeness levels and the two number systems account for them.

• 당신은 뭐 좋아해요?

  뭐 좋아해요? or [name]씨는 뭐 좋아해요?

  당신 is the dictionary word for you and almost never the right one. In conversation it reads as cold, and in an argument as aggressive. Drop it, or use their name.

• 나는 학생이에요 (to a stranger)

  저는 학생이에요

  나 is the casual first person, for friends and people younger than you. With someone you have just met, 저 is the humble form and the correct default.

• 삼 시 삼십 분

  세 시 삼십 분

  Korean runs two number systems at once. Hours take native numbers, minutes take Sino-Korean ones, so half past three mixes both in a single phrase.

Why your age comes up early in a Korean chat

Age comes up early in Korean conversation and it is not nosiness — it settles which speech level each person should use, so the question is doing real grammatical work. Expect 나이가 어떻게 되세요 fairly quickly. Once ages are established, an older partner may switch to 반말 while you stay polite, and that asymmetry is normal rather than rude. Food is the most reliable small-talk subject there is; 밥 먹었어요 functions as a greeting more than a genuine question about whether you have eaten.

Staying in 해요체, and other habits that help

• Start in 해요체 and stay there until invited otherwise. It is never wrong with a stranger.
• Learn the chat consonants early. ㅋㅋ and ㅇㅇ appear in almost every casual message.
• Ask about ending nuance, not just meaning. 아요/어요, 네요 and 거든요 carry attitude your dictionary will not explain.
• Type in Hangul from the first day. Romanisation feels faster and teaches you nothing durable.

Korean practice questions

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