“Please speak slowly” in Korean: 천천히 말씀해 주세요

천천히 말씀해 주세요

cheoncheonhi malsseumhae juseyo

Situation: Greetings & basicsLevel: Intermediate (TOPIK 3–4)

Meaning

Please speak slowly.

A learner’s best friend. 말씀 is the honorific form of 말 (“speech”), so the request sounds polite.

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

Ask it when someone speaks too fast, at a counter, in a taxi or in class. Starting with 죄송하지만 (“I’m sorry, but”) makes it even gentler.

With friends or kids drop the honorific and say 천천히 말해 줘. Remember that 천천히 (“slowly”) is the opposite of 빨리 (“quickly”).

Syllables: 9 · Words: 3

It is pronounced just as it is written.

Syllable	Letters (consonant + vowel + final)	Romanization
천천히
천	ㅊ+ㅓ+ㄴ	cheon
천	ㅊ+ㅓ+ㄴ	cheon
히	ㅎ+ㅣ	hi
말씀해
말	ㅁ+ㅏ+ㄹ	mal
씀	ㅆ+ㅡ+ㅁ	sseum
해	ㅎ+ㅐ	hae
주세요
주	ㅈ+ㅜ	ju
세	ㅅ+ㅔ	se
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: Request

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

It contains the honorific -(으)시-, which shows respect to the person being talked about or talked to.

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

Korean	Part of speech	Meaning	Level
주다	verb	to give	TOPIK level 1

Test yourself before you move on. Tap an answer.

Question 1 What does “천천히 말씀해 주세요” mean?

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Answer: Please speak slowly

Question 2 How do you say “Please speak slowly” in Korean?

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Answer: 천천히 말씀해 주세요 cheoncheonhi malsseumhae juseyo

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