“May I use the restroom” in Korean: 화장실 써도 돼요?

화장실 써도 돼요?

hwajangsil sseodo dwaeyo?

Situation: Café & daily lifeLevel: Starter (just learning Hangul)

Meaning

May I use the restroom?

The pattern -아/어도 돼요? asks for permission (“May I ...?”). 써도 comes from 쓰다 (“to use”) plus 도.

Romanization follows the Revised Romanization system and is a guide to pronunciation.

Ask a café or shop employee for permission to use their restroom. Add 죄송한데 for politeness.

Some cafés keep restrooms for customers only. If you mean “may I go to the restroom?”, say 화장실 가도 돼요?.

Syllables: 7 · Words: 3

It is pronounced just as it is written.

Syllable	Letters (consonant + vowel + final)	Romanization
화장실
화	ㅎ+ㅘ	hwa
장	ㅈ+ㅏ+ㅇ	jang
실	ㅅ+ㅣ+ㄹ	sil
써도
써	ㅆ+ㅓ	sseo
도	ㄷ+ㅗ	do
돼요
돼	ㄷ+ㅙ	dwae
요	ㅇ+ㅛ	yo

A ㅇ at the start of a syllable is silent; at the end of a syllable it sounds like “ng”.

Style: Polite (해요체)Sentence type: Question

Ends in -요. The everyday polite style, and a safe choice with shop staff, colleagues, strangers and anyone older than you.

These words from the TOPIK vocabulary lists appear in the phrase (shown in dictionary form).

Korean	Part of speech	Meaning	Level
쓰다	verb	to write	TOPIK level 1

Test yourself before you move on. Tap an answer.

Question 1 What does “화장실 써도 돼요?” mean?

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Answer: May I use the restroom?

Question 2 How do you say “May I use the restroom?” in Korean?

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Answer: 화장실 써도 돼요? hwajangsil sseodo dwaeyo?

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