Grammar lessons

The copula 이다 (to be) takes a different ending at each speech level: - 하십시오체 (formal: introductions, announcements, business): 입니다 in statements and 입니까 in questions, after any noun: 회사원입니다, 의사입니다, 무엇입니까? - 해요체 (polite everyday speech): 이에요 after a consonant, 예요 after a vowel. A question uses the same form with rising intonation: 학생이에요? - 해체 (casual, with close friends and younger people): 이야 after a consonant, 야 after a vowel, for statements and questions alike: 대학생이야, 친구야, 뭐야? Keep the pronouns in step with the level: 저 and 제 go with 하십시오체 and 해요체; 나, 내 and 너 go with 해체.