"Give your grandmother an apple."
Translation:할머니께 사과를 드리세요.
27 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Should the English expression not be: Give grandmother an apple? There is no "your" in the Korean sentence.
I think both should be accepted. Since it's a command sentence, "your" is basically implied, since you're not gonna share your precious, fresh-picked apples with someone else's grandma!
But also it's common to call her "grandma" as a name, eschewing the need for the possessive pronoun.
I feel that the same idea applies in both languages here. In English, we also commonly call our own parents and grandparents by their title in place of a name, and use "your" or "my" for clarification. I feel the English translation should indeed be "Give grandmother..." instead of "Give your grandmother..." or the Korean answer should have included a translation for the "your." I'm sure by the end we will learn it both ways regardless.
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I would use 할머님 as a sign of respect to someone else's grandmother.
할머니, grandma is a more intimate, endearing term. I would save it for my own grandmother.
But there is no strict rule in the use of either terms.
There is a real problem of consistency everywhere... sometimes Duolinguo accepts NOUN+에게 sometimes it accepts NOUN + 께 (when you give something TO someone for exemple). Sometimes both are accepted, sometimes only one... seems to be zero rule and just keeps convincing me that I just should never go for the payed version of duolinguo
@Maria - 께 is specifically used as a honorific. When talking about respected people like Teacher, Boss, Grandmother etc. This concept of respect is totally absent in English so no wonder you are so frustrated.
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Hello. I hope it's not too late for this comment. I am only a beginner but I think I managed to piece together things around '께' and '에게' (at least some of them).
The '-에' itself is a particle describing a "location". It can be in time or space (e.g. 공원에 - in the park, 한밤중에 - at midnight) but it can also be used to "point" at animate objects (people or animals).
Whenever an animate object is pointed to or from, an extra '-게' suffix gets attached too - for example:
친구에게 책을 빌려주세요 - lend a book to a friend
친구에게 책을 빌려세요 - borrow a book from a friend
So, '에' directs action at a friend, while '게' is attached because we are referring to a living being.
Whenever the respectful form is needed, the '-께' suffix should be used instead. And since respectful speech is not used for inanimate objects, there is no need to append '게' any more.
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A funny thing about this sentence is that it can also mean, "Give your grandmother an apology." :) August 20, 2020.
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Guess there is no way to distinguish them in writing, unless by context.
It would be nice to have a sentence where 사과 is used in both senses, so learners can hear the difference (if any). e.g.
"Make an apology to gran with an apple" or
"Give gran an apple as an apology"
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Quite interesting to find out why these homonyms. Apparently they both are hanja words.
The hanja for apple is "shā guǒ" and for be forgiven (for the misdeed) is "shèguò".
The hanja words can be distinguished by pronunciation and intonation; but not the hangul pair.
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Could you elaborate on the use of 드리다 and 주시다 ? They are both Honorifics of 주다 but I think their usage depends on the giver and the recipient relationship. Am I correct?
You have the gist of it. Both 주다 and 드리다 can translate to "A gives to B" or "A does a favor for B", but 드리다 is necessary to honor B, the indirect object, when B is higher than A.
Appending ~시 to the stem is needed when you need to honor the subject: A. As usual, you also need to conjugate to the appropriate speech level for your audience. Here are some variations:
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"사과를 줘" = "Give me the apple." (주다: You (A) are higher than your audience (B).)
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"사과를 주세요" = "Please give me the apple." (주시다: You (A) are at your audience's level (B) or you are in a more formal situation.)
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"사촌, 할머니께 사과를 드려요" = "Cousin, give Grandmother an apple." (드리다: You and your cousin (A) are at each other's level, but both are lower than your Grandmother (B).)
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"엄마, 할머니께 사과를 드리세요" = "Mom, please give Grandmother an apple." (드리시다: You are lower than your Mom (A), who is lower than your Grandmother (B).)
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"할머니께서 엄마에게 사과를 주세요" = "Grandmother, please give mom an apple." (주시다: You are lower than your grandmother (A), but she is higher than your mom (B).)
Another way to frame this is that 드리다 is a humilific form, lowering the subject with respect to the receiver. This is why you'll hear strangers ask "제가 드릴까요?" ("Can I help you?").
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• 드립니다 is the declarative mood (style) of the verb 드리다 in the present tense.
드립니다 = give(s)
할머니께 사과를 드립니다 = I give grandmother an apple
• 드리세요 is the imperative mood (used for making a request or giving an order) of 드리시다. [-시- : honorific aimed at the Listener; while 드리다 is aimed at 3rd party, your Grandmother.]
할머니께 사과를 드리세요 = (Please) give/offer your grandmother an apple
I said 할머님께, and it said I had a typo and gave 할머니께 as the correct answer. Why is 할머님께 wrong?
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"님"'s use is limited to one's immediate/direct family members who are considered as seniors. [...] However, it is not uncommon to use this suffix to refer to someone else's family member, as a form of "added respect & politeness" to the latter. [ wordreference forum ]
So in that sense, you are not wrong. 할머니 just happens to have a wider use.
Thank you for your reply. Have a lingot!
However, there are several other sentences in these lessons where I am told not to use 님 when it is a direct family member. For example:
How old is my grandmother? I used -님 and was told I had a typo, with the correct answer being 우리 할머니의 연세가 어떻게 되세요?
Where is our grandmother? Same situation (correct answer: 우리들의 할머니께서 어디 꼐세요?).
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It has just dawned on me that "님" is a status and indicates "high standing". It should be used only in formal circumstances. The 해요체 (-요 verb ending) style in all the examples cited implies casualness (low formality) and does not justify the use of 님.
You can use ~님 with any speech level and its not restricted to formal circumstances.
~님 is attached to addresses to convey respect. Think of it as an additional dial to tune your speech according to the situation.
For example, its common to address your taxi driver as 기사님 but talk to them in 해요체.