a korean question

[kimdaejin]

my very first post here

i have a question to ask. what's the difference among these 4 questions? 집에 가요? 집에 가나요? 집에 가니? 집에 가냐?

[trutherous]

i have a question to ask. what's the difference among these 4 questions? 집에 가요? 집에 가나요? 집에 가니? 집에 가냐?

Hi Daejin,
It's nice to meet you here at KC101!

Yeah - I am likewise curious how the teachers will answer, and while we are at it why not throw in:

집에 가세요?
집에 가십니까?
집에 가?

***********

The way I figure it, other than the obvious differences in politeness levels, the chief differences are nuance and local inflection (colloquialism) in the verb suffix, however the exact meaning almost always depends on context. Even the first example "집에 가요?" (made moderately polite by adding "요") can have more than one meaning; it should typically mean "Are you going home?" but could also mean "Is/are he/she/they going home?" and let's say it was preceded with a negative as in "아니, 집에 가요?" (or if just the negative tone exists in the context) then the intended meaning could be something like "You are not going home (now), are you?" In any language there are probably at least a dozen ways to express the same thought; e.g. 'Are you going home sir? Going home? Are you headed home? Heading home? Going back to the crib?' Of course without the question mark '집에 가요' simply means 'I'm going home' (but you knew that)

As for your other examples these are my vague impressions as I hear them:

집에 가나요? - asks the question if one is going home but also expresses some doubt whether or not home is the destination

집에 가니? - this form expresses intimacy between close friends or is used when an adult addresses young children

집에 가냐? - (~느냐) possibly intimate in certain context, this form may also impart a condescending or irreverent tone

Anyway, let's see what the experts have to say.

George, Your fellow student.

[kimdaejin]

fellow student, hehe^^

so I made a mistake..instead of 집에 가냐? it's 집에 가느냐? right? thanks for pointing out..I didnt know this

you're an expert I guess..your post already has cleared my doubt..

thank you a million!!!

[trutherous]

I am certainly no expert and I make plenty of mistakes and sometimes give bad advice -- but anyway


I have heard it both ways "가느냐/가냐?" "먹느냐/먹냐?' "하느냐/하냐?" 등등 but I think the short form is a little more colloquial. A particularly interesting construction is "~냐고" = "(asked if ~" 집에 가냐고... I'm asking are you going home (duh). 집에 가냐고 물었어요.. I asked if you/he/she/they are going home. 그 일를 했냐고 물었어요. I asked if he did that work.

[kimdaejin]

thank you so much

I learned a lot from you!