# -군과 -양



## slowlikemolasses

How often are the suffixes -군 and -양 used by teachers when referring to their students? If it's no longer commonly used, did it used to be?


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## Kross

slowlikemolasses said:


> How often are the suffixes -군 and -양 used by teachers when referring to their students? If it's no longer commonly used, did it used to be?



 No, it is still used, but as you mentioned very rarely used. That’s because there are a few cases where these two words can be used in normal life. You can hear these words 100% at a wedding when a bridegroom and a bride are introduced by an officiator at the ceremony like this: 박정은군, 김근혜양. At college, I would say that a very small percent of professors use them when referring to their students. Using them is interpreted as showing formality and politeness. At the same time, it can sound that they are not close and familiar. So, professors and teachers tend to not use them. But when students are almost as old as teachers or professors and not married, it is the manner to use the suffixes when calling students. And they are hardly used to refer to high school students and below because teachers are much older than their students.


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## slowlikemolasses

Thanks. So would it be commonly used in an adult education class?


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## Kross

slowlikemolasses said:


> Thanks. So would it be commonly used in an adult education class?


 The frequency of using them totally depends on teachers in an adult education class. But I think generally they are not used commonly. In my view, –씨 is much more commonly used in adult classrooms than ~군 and ~양. The range of students’ ages in that class usually varies. Someone might be older than a teacher. So it would be safer for the teacher to use ~씨 as a suffix.


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## slowlikemolasses

What about a teacher's assistant addressing a student? Would that be a suitable time to use the suffix?


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## Kross

slowlikemolasses said:


> What about a teacher's assistant addressing a student? Would that be a suitable time to use the suffix?


No way. In Korea, teacher’s assistants and students are usually peers. So, ~군 and ~양 cannot be used when the assistants address them, which otherwise would be very weird. That’s because these suffixes can be used only when older people such as a professor address young and unmarried people(i.e. their students) in a polite way. Again it happens very rarely. For example, when a teaching assistant in college calls the roll, s/he just calls the names of their students because TAs usually have similar ages of their students. However, ~씨 can be attached to their students’ names if TAs want to call their students' names in a polite way. This is a simple example. 

TA: (when calling the roll) 김한국(씨)? (Kim Han-kook씨, are you here?)
김한국: 네 (Yes)


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