Writing Emails & Letters
Write formal and informal emails with proper greetings and closings.
Korean emails follow a specific structure that differs from Western business emails. Formal emails open with 안녕하세요 (hello) followed by an explicit self-identification: 저는 [name] [company]의 [role]입니다 (this is [name], [role] at [company]). The actual message follows, written in -ㅂ니다/습니다 formal speech. Closing uses 감사합니다 (thank you) or 잘 부탁드립니다 (please look after this), then the sender's name.
Key vocabulary for emails: 첨부 (attachment), 답장 (reply), 회신 (response, more formal than 답장), 문의 (inquiry), 일정 (schedule). Note that Korean emails often include a level of hierarchical address that English emails do not — addressing the recipient as [성함] 님 (Mr/Ms [name]) is essential in formal contexts. Skipping the honorific feels rude. Practice a few template structures and you can handle most business email situations.
~기 때문에 — Because (written/formal reason)
Verb stem + 기 때문에 = because of doing ~. More formal than ~아/어서. Often used in written Korean. 시간이 없기 때문에 (because there is no time).
~(으)ㄹ 때 — When (time clause)
Verb stem + (으)ㄹ 때 = when doing ~. 가다 → 갈 때 (when going), 먹다 → 먹을 때 (when eating). For past: ~았/었을 때 (when [I] did).
How It Works
-기 때문에 gives a reason and belongs to written and formal register. It uses the nominaliser -기 from the previous lesson plus 때문 ('reason'), so 시간이 없기 때문에 literally says 'because of the fact of there being no time'.
It differs from the reason forms in Lesson 5-2 mainly in register rather than meaning. -아/어서 is conversational, -(으)니까 is conversational and permits commands, and -기 때문에 is formal and written. It shares the restriction of -아/어서: it cannot precede an imperative.
Note that 때문에 can also attach directly to a noun: 비 때문에 ('because of the rain'). This noun form is common in both speech and writing.
-(으)ㄹ 때 means 'when' and uses the prospective modifier plus 때 ('time'). 갈 때 is 'when going', 먹을 때 is 'when eating'. For a completed past event, the form is -았/었을 때: 어렸을 때 means 'when I was young'.
The modifier choice here is worth attention because it does not follow the intuitive pattern. -(으)ㄹ 때 covers general and present 'when', not just future, which surprises learners who expect -는 때. The -(으)ㄹ form is the default for this construction.
Where You'll Hear It
Korean business email has a fixed structure that is worth learning as a template rather than composing from scratch. It opens with 안녕하세요 followed by your identification — 저는 [회사] [이름]입니다 — then states the purpose, then closes with 감사합니다 and your name.
수고하셨습니다 and 고생하셨습니다 appear constantly in workplace communication, acknowledging someone's effort. They have no natural English equivalent and using them correctly signals real familiarity with Korean workplace norms.
The honorific 님 from Lesson 2-7 is essential in email. 팀장님께, 김민수 님께 — 께 is the honorific form of the particle 에게, used when addressing someone senior.
-기 때문에 fits email precisely because business writing calls for a formal register. 일정이 변경되었기 때문에 연락드립니다 is the kind of sentence that would sound stiff in speech but is correct in writing.
One cultural note on register: Korean business email is generally more formal than its Western equivalent, and 습니다체 runs throughout. Dropping into 해요체 mid-email reads as careless, and mixing registers is a more visible error than a vocabulary mistake.
Cultural & Language Note
Korean business email has rigid opening and closing conventions. 안녕하십니까 opens, the sender identifies their affiliation before their name, and 수고하세요 closes — though notably 수고하세요 is not used upward to someone senior, where 감사합니다 is safer. Getting the closing wrong is a more visible error than any grammar mistake in the body.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
기 때문에 is the written, formal reason marker and does not take commands — the same restriction as 아/어서. Learners also use 수고하세요 to professors and bosses, where it can read as condescending because it evaluates the other person's effort. Use 감사합니다 or 안녕히 계세요 upward.
How to Practice This Lesson
Build one email template and reuse it. Write a complete formal email — greeting, self-identification, purpose, closing — and save it. Most business email you send will be a variation on that skeleton, and having it ready removes the hardest part.
Drill 수고하셨습니다 into your active vocabulary. It is used constantly and learners tend to know it passively without ever producing it, which means they miss the routine opportunities to use it.
For -(으)ㄹ 때, focus on the counterintuitive part: it is not restricted to the future. Write five sentences about habitual situations — 밥을 먹을 때, 지하철을 탈 때 — and confirm that -(으)ㄹ is correct in all of them.
Keep registers separate in practice. Write the same message twice, once as a formal email and once as a KakaoTalk message to a friend. Seeing the two side by side makes the register distinction concrete in a way that reading about it does not.