Lesson 6
무슨 말씀이신지...?
= (I don’t understand) what you said. / (I don’t know) what you are trying to say.
When is this phrase usually used?
When you don’t know or understand exactly what another person is trying to say and you want to politely ask what they mean, you can say 무슨 말씀이신지...? You wouldn’t use this expression to your close friends because it sounds too formal, but omitting the last part of the sentence is considered to be less offensive.
Vocabulary & Grammar Points
* 무슨 [mu-seun] = what
Ex) 무슨 영화 볼 거예요?
[mu-seun yeong-hwa bol geo-ye-yo?]
= What movie are you going to watch?
* 말씀 [mal-sseum] = talk; word; what one says (honorific)
Ex) 좋은 말씀 감사합니다.
[jo-eun mal-sseum gam-sa-ham-ni-da.]
= Thank you for the nice words.
* -이시다 [-i-si-da] = to be (honorific)
Ex) 이 분이 제 선생님이세요.
[i bu-ni je seon-saeng-ni-mi-se-yo.]
= This person is my teacher.
* -(으/느)ㄴ지 [-(eu/neu)n-ji] = verb ending that comes before words such as to know, to ask, to not know, to find out, etc... in order to show what the speaker is referring to
Ex) 언제 도착하는지 물어 보세요.
[eon-je do-cha-ka-neun-ji mu-reo bo-se-yo.]
= Ask them when they will arrive.