안녕하세요 readers! It's Koreanstudyjunkie here~
You may have noticed that Korean speakers sometimes use the word, "우리” instead of "제” or other words for "my".
WHEN TO USE "MY"?
In most circumstances using "my" is good! There are a couple different ways to say it.
제 - 저의 = My (formal/casual)
내 - 나의 = My (informal)
네 (pronounced as 니) = Your (informal)
당신의 = Your (formal)
When claiming an object as your own:
제 가방 - my bag
제 자전거 - my bike
내 신발 - my shoes
내 침대 - my bed
When claiming non family-related individuals that only YOU "have":
제 친구 - my friend(s)
내 친구 - my friend(s)
제 선생님 - my teacher
If you have a pet, that is yours alone:
제 강아지 - my puppy
내 고양이 - my cat
Claiming an apartment or home that ONLY YOU live in:
제 아파트 - my apartment
내 집 - my house
In Summary, when you and you ALONE are in "possession" of something or someone, you can use "my".
WHEN TO USE "우리" AS "MY"
Once it's not just yours, you have to upgrade to ”“우리”. While 우리 is usually translated as "we" or "us", It will start to be translated "my" as well.
When referring to family members:
우리 엄마 - my mom
even as an only child with no siblings, you would use this!
우리 오빠/형 - my older brother
우리 할아버지 - my grandfather
우리 가족 - my family
우리 부모(님) - my parents
When referring to a place that you and at least one other person lives in:
우리 집 - my house
우리 아파트 - my apartment
When you and another person have “possession”:
우리 선생님 - my teacher , our teacher
for example, you and your friend have the same class with the same teacher. in this conversation you may be talking to a third person who is an outsider, so you use 우리.
우리 강아지 - my dog , our dog
Cultural Notes:
1). Even when talking about your spouse to others, you use 우리. It may seem weird, but yep!
우리 아내 - my wife
우리 와이프 - my wife
우리 남편 - my husband
우리 부부
2). Differently to the other things mentioned before.. Sometimes 우리 is used in a kind of "endearing" way when referring to a person that you and others know.
우리 김 - (our) Kim
우리 지민 - (our) Jimin
What makes it "my" and not "ours"?
It's just the context! If you want to say "my house", but you live with your parents, you'll use 우리. If you want to say "our house", you still use 우리. A lot of times the context of the full conversation will let you understand whether they want to say "my" or "our".
At the end of the day, It doesn't matter much, because the meaning will still reach the other person! But usually you'll know either way that this person with another person either owns something, lives with them, knows the other person, is family related, etc.
That's all for this post! If you scroll down, you'll see a few posts that I picked out just for you. They are similar to this post and will build upon your knowledge.
Thank you for this, this is very interesting. Strangely, we have something a little bit similar to “우리“ in England, particularly in the North where I am from, where people will often say things like the following when talking about close family members: “Our [insert name of person] went to see a musical in London last week.” or “Do you know what our [insert name] wants to do after they leave school?” It’s generally recognised as a term of warmth towards someone that you are close to, probably similar to how the Koreans use the term.