-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)).

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)

1. 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)