Personal Pronouns in Korean

In most languages pronouns one of the first things to appear on textbooks, however Korean disdain for pronouns deems them only slightly important when compared to other grammar points. Well, this is not necessarily true in spoken Korean but for reasons of formality pronouns are dropped in more formal language... which happens to be the one used in textbooks and grammars.

Of all the pronouns Koreans avoid "you" the most so there is a number of alternatives that use the a person's name or title followed by an honorific.

First person singular

나 - informal or intimate

저 - humble, slightly more formal

First person plural

우리 - informal or intimate

저희 - humble (pronounced as 저이)

Second person

너 - intimate

당신 - less polite (and apparently most often used between spouses)

자네 - semi-formal

Polite forms

First name / full name + 씨

Title + 님

Surname/ full name + 선생님

Third person

그 사람 - literally, that person

그 젓 or 그거 - literally, that thing

From the examples above it is easy to conclude that there is no he, she or it in Korean, just alternative expressions.