¤ Saying Yes ¤

mteric

So far, I have seen two ways of saying "yes" in Korean: 네and 예.  Is one more polite than the other?  Are there certain situations when one is preferred over the other?  Or can they be used interchangeably?

감사함니다.

montanadaver

In my experience the first form is used most often. The latter form is used less often and seems to be a bit more polite. They can be used interchangeably without any issues.

mteric

It looks like you can say "응" too, but this one must be more informal. Maybe it's like saying "yeah"?

montanadaver

That's absolutely correct. The most direct translation is 'yeah'

mteric

montanadaver, 고마워요!

Acutally, shortly after I posted that, I remembered that this is similar to the Japanese "うん", which also means "yeah".  It's pronounced "oon" or "oom".

I am finding a lot of similarities between these two languages.

southboca · Active Poster Joined: 13 Mar 2007 Posts: 100

I lived and worked in South Korea for almost 3 years as an English teacher. Nae, nae is what all the Korean teachers used when talking on the phone with students' parents during their quarterly phone checking marathons. I always figured it worked as a place holder (uh-huh, I'm still listening).