Lesson 2
The first and the easiest way to change a formal sentence into a casual one is dropping the -요 at the end. It doesn’t work with every sentence ending with -요, but you will learn the other cases in the later lessons.
Dialogue in 존댓말
A: 오늘 바빠요? (Are you busy today?)
B: 오늘 안 바빠요. (I’m not busy today.)
Drop the -요 at the end of each sentence and you get a 반말 conversation.
Dialogue in 반말
A: 오늘 바빠? (Are you busy today?)
B: 오늘 안 바빠. (I’m not busy today.)
Let’s look at another example.
Dialogue in 존댓말
A: 이거 매워요? (Is this spicy?)
B: 조금 매워요. (It’s a little spicy.)
Dialogue in 반말
A: 이거 매워? (Is this spicy?)
B: 조금 매워. (It’s a little spicy.)