제 이름은 제니예요.
제 이름은 제니예요.
| without 받침(final consonants)
+~예요 |
with 받침(final consonants)
+~이에요 |
|
| 제니 | 제 이름은 제니예요. | |
| 거니 | 제 이름은 거니예요. | |
| 마이클 | 제 이름은 마이클이에요. | |
| 지민 | 제 이름은 지민이에요. |
💻Let’s speak together!
🎫Let’s practice!
Introducing my name
제니: 안녕하세요.
마이클: 안녕하세요.
제니: 이름이 뭐예요?
마이클: 제 이름은 마이클이에요. 이름이 뭐예요?
제니: 제 이름은 제니예요.
Jenny: Hello.
Michael: Hello.
Jenny: What is your name?
Michael: My name is Michael. What’s your name?
Jenny: My name is Jenny.
🏐Things you should know
① 이름이 뭐예요?
When asking for someone’s name in Korean, you would say “이름이 뭐예요?” which translates to “What is your name?”
In this context, “이름” means “name,” and “~뭐예요?” means “what is”.
In fact, “뭐” is a shortened form of “무엇” which means “what.”
When you use “무엇/뭐” together with “~예요/~이에요”, it’s common to say “뭐예요” instead of “무엇이에요.”
② 제 이름은…
You can translate “제 이름은” to “my name is.”
Since we haven’t learned “possessives” yet, I’ll explain briefly.
“제” is a shortened form of the possessive “저의,” which means “my.” and “저의” is a respectful form of “나의,” which means “my.”
Therefore, “제 이름은” is a humble way to refer to oneself and elevate the other person.
In summary, “나의=저의,” “내=제 (shortened form).”
Here’s the tricky part.😅
When learning Korean, one of the most challenging aspects is understanding and using particles like “은/는/이/가.” Therefore, it’s important to grasp why I use “은” in one instance and why I use “이” in another instance in simple sentences.
The particle “은” attached to the noun “이름” indicates the topic of the sentence, indicating that “제 이름” (my name) is the topic of the sentence.
In this case, “은” signifies the topic of the sentence, emphasizing “제 이름” (my name) as the focus.
③ ~예요 VS ~이에요
In English, the verb “be” changes depending on the subject pronoun (“I am”, “you are”, “he/she/it is”).
Similarly, in Korean, the equivalent verb changes not based on the subject but on whether the noun (in this case, the name) it combines with ends in a vowel or a consonant. It uses “예요” if the noun ends in a vowel(without final consonants) and “이에요” if the noun ends in a consonant(with final consonants).
For example, If my name is “제니”, I should say “제니예요.” not “제니이에요”. Because the name “제니” ends with “니,” which has no final consonant. I should use “예요” at the end. On the other hand, the name “마이클” ends with “클” and has a final consonant ‘ㄹ,’ so I should use “이에요”. Therefore, it should be “마이클이에요.”
💎 What if…?
Q: What if I say “I’m jenny.” instead of “My name is jenny.”?
A: Good question! you can use both. Just like English, in Korean, we can also paraphrase this expression.
If you want to say “I’m jenny.”, you can say “저는 제니예요.”. In this case, “저”is a humble expression of “나(I)”. So 저는 제니예요. indicates “I’m Jenny and I want to look polite.”
It’s not statiscally right, but I think “저는 ~~예요(이에요).” is more common to use among native koreans.
So, if you want to use it more practically, I recommend you to try to say “저는 제니입니다.”