-습니까
Korean
Alternative forms
- ㅂ니까 (-mnikka) – after vowels or ㄹ (l)
- 습나이까 (-seumnaikka), ㅂ나이까 (-mnaikka) – archaic
Etymology
Formed by a merger of the Middle Korean verbal suffixes ᄉᆞᆸ〯 (Yale: -sǒp-, object honorific) + ᄂᆞ〮 (Yale: -nó-, present tense marker) + ᅌᅵᆺ (Yale: -ngìs-, addressee honorific for questions) + 가〮 (Yale: -ká, interrogative mood marker).
The allomorph ㅂ니까 (-mnikka) after sonorants represents the fact that the Middle Korean object honorific ᄉᆞᆸ〯 (Yale: -sǒp-) had the allomorph ᅀᆞᆸ〯 (-zǒp-) after sonorants, which became simply ㅂ (-b-) after Middle Korean /z/ was (almost) unconditionally deleted in the sixteenth century.
The modern form only emerged in the nineteenth century, in the form 습나이까 (-seumnaikka) (then written ᄉᆞᆸᄂᆞ잇가 (-seumnaikka)).[1]
Pronunciation
- (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [s͈ɯmnik͈a̠]
- Phonetic hangul: [씀니까]
| Romanizations | |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization? | seumnikka |
| Revised Romanization (translit.)? | seubni'kka |
| McCune–Reischauer? | ssŭmnikka |
| Yale Romanization? | qsupni.kka |
Suffix
습니까 • (-seumnikka)
- Interrogative suffix for sentence-final verbs in the 하십시오체 (hasipsioche, “formal polite”) speech level.
- 서울은 오늘 춥습니까? ― seour-eun oneul chupseumnikka? ― Is Seoul cold today?
Derived terms
- (ethnic slur) 스무니까 (-seumunikka)
Related terms
- 습니다 (-seumnida)
- 읍시다 (-eupsida)
References
- 장윤희 (2012), “국어 종결어미의 통시적 변화와 쟁점 [A general survey of diachronic change of Korean sentence-terminating endings]”, in Gugeosa yeon'gu, volume 14, pages 63—99