# Combining -이에요 and -네요



## Jgon

I know that -이에요 is the Korean equivalent of "It is..." but is it correct to add -네요 to express surprise?

For example, is it correct to say "오늘 너의 생일이에네요?" to a friend? This is assuming that you didn't know his/her birthday and you're  surprised that it is his/her birthday today.

Or is it correct to say "보드카예네요?" expecting the drink is water and not vodka.


----------



## Kross

I think in these cases people would  be more likely to use the ~ 였어? verb ending like 오늘 너 생일이였어?, (이거) 보드카였어?. 네요 here gives the feeling that you are telling an affirmation sentence like 'It is your birthday today'.


----------



## Jgon

Thanks for the answer~


----------



## Isaranghateyou

From my understanding, you can just say 오늘 너의(네) 생일이네요? To express surprise at finding out its your friends birthday. 

And 보드카이네요? When expressing surprise about the drink.


----------



## Environmentalist

Kross made a good point.
We usually say '~였/이었어?! or '~였/이었어요?!' with a rising intonation at the end to express surprise.
'~였/이었네?' or '~였/이었네요?' are also ok with a rising intonation and the stress on the last letter (here 네 or 요).
For instance, '오늘 너/네 생일이었어?' is the most common way to say when you didn't know but just found out it's his/her birthday.


----------



## Isaranghateyou

Environmentalist said:


> Kross made a good point.
> We usually say '~였/이었어?! or '~였/이었어요?!' with a rising intonation at the end to express surprise.
> '~였/이었네?' or '~였/이었네요?' are also ok with a rising intonation and the stress on the last letter (here 네 or 요).
> For instance, '오늘 너/네 생일이었어?' is the most common way to say when you didn't know but just found out it's his/her birthday.




Im confused :< Doesn't adding ~(이)였네 just change the tense? 
Like if it is still the persons birthday, wouldn't it be weird to say " oh, it was your birthday?" 
Or maybe it is just weird to me because it translates to English like that?


----------



## Kross

Isaranghateyou said:


> Like if it is still the persons birthday, wouldn't it be weird to say " oh, it was your birthday?"


That's a good point. 오늘 네 생일이야? is grammatically correct. The present tense should be used here due to the reason you brought up. But some people use a past form of ~이야?, ~였어?, in real life. 

Source: 국립국어원


----------



## Isaranghateyou

Kross said:


> That's a good point. 오늘 네 생일이야? is grammatically correct. The present tense should be used here due to the reason you brought up. But some people use a past form of ~이야?, ~였어?, in real life.
> 
> Source: 국립국어원



Oh ok, thank you for clearing that up!


----------

