Help with Korean word/phrase?

[doraemon]

Hi everyone,

I've been on Korean airlines like Asiana and Korean Air many times and basically every time the flight attendant makes an announcement she adds something like "si mi da" to the end of virtually every sentence.

Can someone please explain what this phrasing means and why they use it so much? My guess is that it means something like 'please'...

I tried searching it up on google and my electronic dictionary but I couldn't seem to find it. Maybe it's because I'm looking up the wrong word or something...

Thanks!

[anonymoose]

It doesn't mean anything on its own - it's just a verb ending, and since verbs are the last components of a Korean sentence, the verb ending always comes at the end.

Maybe this page will explain it better.

[bhchao]

Korean language emphasize heavily on politeness and honorific forms of speaking, depending on the relationship between the speaker and the hearer.

Using 니다 ("Ni da") at the end of a word or sentence is polite communication in a formal setting between strangers, or when the speaker has a deferential status (such as being much younger or less experienced) with the hearer

An elderly man or woman can speak to a much younger person without using 니다. It is considered impolite for a young person to speak to a person of 'seniority' without ever using 니다, especially in a non-intimate relationship.

니다 is used either in polite formal situations or deferential polite situations. The airline example is a polite formal situation, which is why 니다 was used.

[abcdefg]

Thank you = kamsa hamnida = 감사합니다

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edit: I reread the two previous posts and I think they explain it better. I should have just stayed out of this. Sorry.

Edited April 9, 2010 at 01:51 PM by abcdefg

[Glenn]

And since you know Japanese, just think of it as being like ます.

[chrix]

And since you know Japanese, just think of it as being like ます.

No, it would be more like an equivalent of ございます。

아/어요 would be more like ます IMO, being much more frequent in people's conversation (as 습니다 is overly formal as many people already have pointed out). But Korean does have more politeness levels than Japanese does anyways, though I'm told that two of them are not used that often anymore...

Edited April 9, 2010 at 07:55 PM by chrix

[Glenn]

So it's more like 尊敬語? Although ございます is neutral... I'm pretty sure there isn't a word 中性敬語, although I guess just 敬語 would work.

Anyway, from reading the descriptions above and in that link, it looks an awful lot like ます to me in the way it behaves and the relationship information it contains, but I'll defer to you since you seem to know more about it.

[chrix]

Well, some linguistis have called ございます "hyperpolite", as opposed to ます, which is just polite.

Now, both the Korean and Japanese forms discussed are not 尊敬語, whose function is to directly express deference to the subject referent, but more akin to 丁寧語, which is more about expressing formality in the speech act and thus deference to the interlocutor.

[Glenn]

I just re-read that link, and I think I see what you're saying now. It looks like I missed the 어요 and 습니다 distinction. Now I see what you meant by this:

아/어여 would be more like ます IMO

Sorry about that.

[doraemon]

Thanks everyone! So it's basically a polite verb ending, right? Got it! :-)