Korean speech levels

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There are seven verb paradigms or speech levels in Korean, and each level has its own unique set of verb endings which are used to indicate the level of formality of a situation. Unlike honorifics – which are used to show respect towards someone mentioned in a sentence – speech levels are used to show respect towards a speaker's or writer's audience, or reflect the formality or informality of the situation. They represent a system of honorifics in the linguistic use of the term as a grammar system, distinct from honorific titles.

The names of the seven levels are derived from the non-honorific imperative form of the verb hada (하다; "to do") in each level, plus the suffix che (체), which means "style". Each Korean speech level can be combined with honorific or non-honorific noun and verb forms. Taken together, there are 14 combinations.

Some of these speech levels are disappearing from the majority of Korean speech. Hasoseo-che is now used mainly in movies or dramas set in the Joseon era and in religious speech.^[1] Hage-che is nowadays limited to some modern male speech, whilst Hao-che is now found more commonly in the Jeolla dialect and Pyongan dialect than in the Seoul dialect.