"선생님께서 학생에게 말씀하십니다."

Translation: The teacher talks to the student.

[gabriellelo]

"선생님" is also used as a title, like Grandfather or Grandmother. It's not unusual for your students to call you "Teacher" even in English, instead of a name like "Mr. Noh."

[wintertriangles]

Yes, since it literally means "first-born"

[DonutEggRoll]

Yes it's from the Hanja is 先生. 先 means first, former, previous, etc. and 生 means life, living, lifetime; born, etc.

[sean.mullen]

생 also just means 'student,' so 선생 is most likely literally 'before/surpassing the student'.

[ErnestineO]

What's the difference between "speak" and "talk"? I wrote "The teacher speaks to the students" and it was marked wrong.

[Rhamsesito]

I think is beacause you used "students" in plural. I wrote "The teacher speaks to the student" and didn't have a problem, maybe it got fixed

[jiraiya1601]

if honorifics are used here why is it 학생에게 and not 학생께? since 께 is the honorifics version of 에게? thanks in advance!

[bisousethiboux]

because it's not the student that needs to be honoured, it's only the teacher

[NiciSarang]

Really, duolingo? What is really the difference between "speaks" and "talks", especially when, again, the one you suggested doesn't work?

[ImTiredRightNow]

is speaking. why not? we need more answer choices. even google translate does that.

[Alequeue]

I think "is speaking" would be 말씀하시고 있어요

[moira142592]

anyone who is linguist/teacher or is Korean native that can explain this? since 말씀하다 is already a verb in honorifics, shouldn't 말씀합시다 be accepted here (not to mention, should it not be "enough"?) does it really need to be 말씀하시다?

[sean.mullen]

말씀합시다 would be the very formal (and honorific) way to say "let's talk/speak", but the imperative isn't being used here. You're supposed to be translating "The teacher talks to the student," which is a simple indicative sentence. 말씀합니다 is only appropriate when you are addressing someone who is higher than you in social status and when the person talked about (the teacher in this case) is also deserving of an honorific. Honorifics, humilifics, and speech register are totally separate concepts that can combine depending on whom you're addressing and who the referent is.

[CarolNg2]

What's the difference between "The teacher talks to a student" vs. "the student" here?

[AlwaysT1red]

Why is it not the student talking to the teacher?

[sean.mullen]

Because -에게 is the standard "to", so an action is being done "to the student".

[mrsbsocks]

'teacher spoke to the student' is this answer not acceptable?

[astrojoy]

Probably because it's past tense

[DiyaJaiswa1]

What is this 께서 and ..씀하십니다?

[J7jx10]

Honorific forms. It is described in Tips&notes section if you use web version. 께서 is honorific form of subject particles 이/가. 말씀하시다 is honorific form of 말하다.

[SoumiSoumi3]

What does 께서 means? Please explain

[J7jx10]

Honorific form of subject particles 이/가

[WolfOT7]

Now what's wrong with writing 'pupil' instead of 'student'? In other languages Duolingo accepts it.