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So far I have encountered examples of using 주시다 and 드리다. And I know sometimes 주시다 used instead of 드리다 and vice versa.

Like:

전해 주시겠습니까?

전해 드리겠습니까? -> wrong

알려 주셔서 감사드립니다

알려 주셔서 감사주십니다 -> wrong

But I am still confused on the usage of these two. Could anyone clarify this for me?

1 Answer 1

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There are two distinct differences between 주시다 and 드리다:

  • (해)드리다 is used instead of (해)주다 when the person for whom the favour is done needs to be shown politeness in that particular speech situation.

  • (으)시 just means you are being polite about the person doing the action. You could add it to 주다 (to become 주시다) OR to 드리다 (to become 드리시다).

When you are using 전해드리다 or 전해주다, the person the favour is being done for is the person the relevant information is being told to.

전해 주시겠습니까? could mean 'Would you convey that to me (or to someone else of a lower status)?'. You could be talking to someone higher or even, in a formal situation, to someone slightly lower.

전해 드리겠습니까? is also fine - it would mean 'Will you convey that (to a higher person)?'

알려 주셔서 감사드립니다 Is a way to thank someone senior for letting you (or someone else of a low status) know something.

알려 주셔서 감사주십니다 - the most straightforward reason that this is strange is that Koreans just don't use 주다 with 감사. If someone is thanking someone slightly lower directly, they would just say 감사합니다. If you were reporting the fact, you'd use 감사 해 하다. Also, a humble form is being used for the person receiving the information '셔서', the person who did the favour is somewhat respected '주서', and a somewhat respected person is doing the thanking (감사주니다) - and this cannot be the person doing the talking, which logically seems like a convoluted situation!

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  • Let me summarize your meaning: 주시다 used when giving respect to the one whom I speak to, but not the one favour is to be shown; 드리다 used when giving respect to both audience?
    – user237
    Jun 26, 2016 at 11:30
  • 주시다 used when giving respect to the one whom I speak to, but not the one favour is to be shown - correct, if you assume that the person doing the favour is the same person you are talking to. Jun 26, 2016 at 11:38
  • 드리다 used when giving respect to both audience? - it gives respect to the person receiving the favour, but not to the person doing the action. If you are asking your boss to tell something to his boss (showing both respect), you could use 드리시다. Jun 26, 2016 at 11:40
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    @busukxuan I think we can summarise it as 'use 드리다 when the receiver of the favour should be honoured; use 시 when the giver of the favour should be honoured'. Hopefully that agrees with my bullet points! Jun 26, 2016 at 15:12
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    @busukxuan if you're asking someone to do something for you, then you'd never use '드리다', because you don't use honorifics for yourself. My local native Korean also says that 모여 드리다 would sound so excessively polite so as to be sarcastic. Jun 26, 2016 at 18:38

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