How To Create Yes or No Question In Korean?

What should I say if I want to make sure my guess is right or wrong? For example, in a simple conversation, I would like to know that he/she is a Korean or not. So, my question should be, "are you Korean?"

We know that this type of question is named as the "Yes or No" question. The basic principle is the interrogative sentence is build from a statement. And, we only need to show the interrogator that we agree or disagree with him/her.

If you don't know how to create a basic statement sentence in Korean, kindly read "Noun As The Topic Markers" in this blog.

Yes or No question

Anyway, just for your information, the "Yes or No" question in Korean is identically same as the Indonesian dialogues habit. Let's take a look.

"Kamu orang Korea ya?" or "한국 사람이에요?". In English, that can be translated as, "are you Korean?". Then, I can answer that question just by saying "Yes or No" with or without the repetition.

Or, probably, I want to ask you that you are busy or not. So, I would like to ask, "aren't you busy?". In Indonesian, it will be translated as, "kamu sibuk gak?". And in Korean, it would be, "안 바쁘세요?".

Basically, both in Indonesian and Korean, a sentence can be changed to an interrogative easily just by changing our intonation (if we are in a direct conversation) or add the question mark (if we are doing a text conversation/writing).

For examples:

저는 회사원이에요. ⇛ 저는 회사원이에요?
I am an office worker. ⇛ Am I an office worker?

저는 대학생이에요. ⇛ 저는 대학생이에요?
I am a student. ⇛ Am I a student?

저는 블로거예요. ⇛ 저는 블로거예요?
I am a blogger. ⇛ Am I a blogger?

스티브 씨는 미국 사람이에요. ⇛ 스티브 씨는 미국 사람이에요?
Steve is an American. ⇛ Is Steve an American?

야옹 씨는 인도네시아 사람이에요. ⇛ 야옹 씨는 인도네시아 사람이에요?
Mew is an Indonesian. ⇛ Is Mew an Indonesian?

이것은 잡지예요. ⇛ 이것은 잡지예요?
It is a magazine. ⇛ Is it a magazine?

The conversation:

It seems easy, right? Let's hear this short conversation together to learn more.

😎: 안녕하세요? 저는 야옹이에요. 이것은 양수미 씨예요.
(Hello, I'm Mew. This is Yang Sumi.)

👧: 안녕하세요?

👲: 네, 안녕하세요, 야옹 씨, 수미 씨. 저는 박태준이에요. 야옹 씨는 인도네시아 사람이에요?
(Yes, hi too, Mew and Sumi. I'm Park Taejun. Mew, are you Indonesian?)

😎: 네, 저는 인도네시아 사람이에요.
(Yes, I am an Indonesian.)

👲: 학생이에요?
(Are you a student?)

😎: 아니요. 저는 의사예요.
(No, I'm a doctor.)

👧: 야옹 씨, 박태준 씨는 누구예요?
(Mew, who is Park Taejun?)

😎: 그는 어머니의 친구예요.
(He is my mother's friend.)


누구 = Who
의사 = Doctor
친구 = Friend