📙 Lesson point
How to say “Please be careful not to catch a cold” in Korean
Hello, everyone! We’re going to learn two things today. First, we’ll learn about the verb ‘조심하다’ (to be cautious) and the imperative conjugation of this verb. Next, we’ll take a look at how to change this verb into honorific form using ‘시’ and ‘세.’
After reading today’s post, not only will you be able to learn how to say “Please be careful not to catch a cold” in Korean, but you’ll also understand how this Korean expression is grammatically formed. Moreover, we’ll look into the actual expression that Shinyu and Dohoon of TWS used for their Instagram post. Let’s begin!
Imperative form of ‘조심하다’
First, let’s learn about the word ‘조심’. It is a noun that has the meaning of “caution to not make a mistake or fault.” ‘조심하다’ is the verb form of this word. It has the meaning of “to take caution, to be careful.”
Now, let’s look at the imperative form of ‘조심하다.’ The imperative form of ‘조심하다’ is ‘조심해.’ This expression is a form of talking down, so it is only used to friends or people you can talk freely to. To say this in a more polite manner, you can add the sentence ending ‘-요’ to change it into an honorific expression. ‘조심해’ and ‘조심해요’ can both be translated as “be careful.”
How to change Korean verbs to honorific form
Now, let’s go a step further. We’ll look at a way to make an honorific expression, which is adding ‘-시-‘ or ‘-세-‘ to the verb. Let’s look at some examples to see how this works.
가다 : to go
가시다 : to go (honorific expression)
나는 학교에 갔다
I went to the school
내 선생님은 학교에 가셨다
My teacher went to the school (honorific expression)
For this case, we used the honorific form of the verb, ‘가시다,’ because “my teacher” is the subject of the action. However, for the first sentence, since “I” am talking about “myself,” there is no need to take myself highly. That’s why using the regular verb ‘가다’ is just fine.
When somebody conjugates a verb using the 시 or 세 honorifics, the speaker is intending to pay respect and be polite to the person who becomes the actor/subject of that verb. This is a very interesting tip. Usually, when we think of honorifics like the ‘-요’ ending, honorific conjugations are used to pay respect to the listener of the speech who’s engaging with the dialogue at the moment. However, 시 or 세 honorifics is different because it is not used to pay respect to the listener. It is used to be polite for the person who’s being mentioned in the sentence as the actor of the verb.
오다 : to come
오시다 : to come
편지는 내일 온다
The mail comes tomorrow
할머니는 내일 오신다
Grandma will come tomorrow (honorific expression)
Likewise, for the first sentence, the subject of action for the verb ‘오다’ is “the mail,” so there is no need to use honorific expressions for this. However, “grandma” is a subject that has to be heightened, so we used the honorific version of ‘오다’, which is ‘오시다.’
How to conjugate ‘조심하다’ to honorific forms
Now, let’s look at how to conjugate ‘조심하다’ to honorific forms using ‘-시-‘ and ‘-세-.’ By changing ‘조심하다’ to ‘조심하시다,’ it can be seen that the speaker is showing respect towards the actor who is the subject of the verb. ‘조심하세요’ would be the imperative form of ‘조심하시다.’
조심하다: to be careful 조심하시다: to be careful (honorifics) 조심하세요: (with respect) please be careful
Korean expression ‘(Noun) + 조심하세요’
‘(Noun) + 조심하세요’ is a commonly used phrase when you tell someone to be mindful of the (Noun) and pay attention to it so that they can be careful not to get sick or hurt. Let’s look at some examples.
감기: Cold (illness)
감기 조심하세요: Please be careful not to catch a cold
발목: Ankle
발목 조심하세요: Please be careful not to sprain your ankle
차: Car
차 조심하세요: Please be careful not to get into a car accident
절벽: Cliff
절벽 조심하세요: Please be careful not to fall from the cliff
사기: Scam, Fraud
사기 조심하세요: Please be careful not to get scammed
Shinyu and Dohoon says: “감기 조심하세요”
In conclusion, Shinyu and Dohoon of TWS seems to be saying to their fans to be careful not to catch a cold. They posted this at the end of February, so they seem to be telling their fans to be careful not to catch a cold at this period when people easily catch cold!