TeacherJoy

You know that Korean care quite a bit about appearance?

I think Koreans tend to prefer a slimmer body type. In English, skinny sounds negative, thin sounds neutral. In Korean, both are expressed with one verb, 마르다.

So “You’re skinny” or “you’re thin” should be 말랐어요. (The reason why 마르다 should be 말랐어요 rather than 말라요 is here.)

But if you want to say it nicely, like “You’re slim,” you should use the adjective 날씬하다. So, 날씬해요. This is much more flattering!

If you want to compliment someone for having a lean body, say 몸이 탄탄해요. You can also say 몸이 좋아요, and that’s actually super common!

Let’s practice some of these body-description expressions using subject honorific speech.

So if the verb stem ends with a consonant, add ‘-으세요’; if it ends with a vowel, add ‘-세요.’

From ‘날씬하-,’ you get 날씬하세요. Simple and respectful.

Oh, and never say 마르셨어요 unless you really mean someone looks dried up. Because “마르다” literally means “to get dry.”

Now, here’s something cultural. Giving compliments about someone’s looks, even directly, is culturally acceptable. But these days, people are getting more careful about it.

And Koreans often name their pets based on their looks or fur color. That’s why names like 검둥이, 까미, or 점박이 are super common, especially in the countryside.

검둥이 and 까미 both mean “black one,” and 점박이 means “spotty” like a pet with many dots or patches on its fur.

Anyway, if you want to say someone looks a bit plump or chubby, you can use 통통하다. So, ‘통통하-‘ from you get 통통하세요.

And if someone’s actually fat, that’s 뚱뚱하다. So, from ‘뚱뚱하-‘, you get 뚱뚱하세요, though keep that one to yourself.

Understanding the language means understanding the culture that shaped it.