-습니다

Korean

Alternative forms

• -ㅂ니다 (-mnida) — after vowels or ㄹ (l)
• -습나이다 (-seumnaida), -ㅂ나이다 (-mnaida) — archaic

Etymology

From earlier -ᄉᆞᆸᄂᆡ다 (-seumnaeda) in the nineteenth century, contracted from -ᄉᆞᆸᄂᆞ이다 (-seumnaida), used since the seventeenth century. The uncontracted form is still found as -습나이다 (-seumnaida), now archaic.

Ultimately formed by a merger of the Middle Korean verbal suffixes -ᄉᆞᆸ〯- (Yale: -sǒp-, object honorific) + -ᄂᆞ〮- (Yale: -nó-, present tense marker) + -ᅌᅵ- (Yale: -ngì-, addressee honorific for questions) + -다〮 (Yale: -tá, declarative mood marker).

The allomorph -ㅂ니다 (-mnida) 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.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [s͈ɯmnida̠]
• Phonetic hangul: [씀니다]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	seumnida
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	seubnida
McCune–Reischauer?	ssŭmnida
Yale Romanization?	qsupnita

Suffix

-습니다 • (-seumnida)

1. Declarative suffix for sentence-final verbs in the 하십시오체 (hasipsioche, “formal polite”) speech level.

   고맙습니다. ― Gomapseumnida. ― Thank you.

Derived terms

• (ethnic slur) -스무니다 (-seumunida)

 

Related terms

• -습니까 (-seumnikka)
• -읍시다 (-eupsida)

 

Descendants

• → Chinese:
  • Mandarin: 思密達／思密达 (sīmìdá)
• → Japanese: ニダ (nida)

References

• 정언학 (Jeong Eon-hak) (2006) “통합형 어미 '-습니다'류의 통시적 형성과 형태 분석 [tonghaphyeong eomi -seumnida ryuui tongsijeok hyeongseonggwa hyeongtae bunseok]”, in Gugeo gyoyuk, volume 121, pages 317—356