How Do I Ask Someone to Speak Slowly in Korean?

천천히 말해 주세요 is the everyday version, and it is the right one in a shop, a taxi or a lesson. In a formal setting the verb itself changes to 말씀해, not just the ending, and that is the part most learners never get told.

This is one of the few sentences worth having in more than one form, because you will need it in situations that are not alike.

The four versions

Read down. The ending is not the only thing moving.

The part that is usually skipped

Between rungs 2 and 3 the verb changes. 말씀해 is the respectful word for speaking and 말해 is the plain one, and they are different words rather than different endings.

This matters because the common shortcut is to learn one stem and swap endings on it. Doing that produces 천천히 말해 주시겠습니까, which is grammatically possible and is not what you hear in that setting. A formal ending sitting on a plain stem reads as someone who learned the ending from a list.

⚠️ There is no fifth rung below 천천히 말해 줘. A request does not go lower than that in Korean, so the ladder stops at four.

Which one to actually learn first

Number three. It covers a shop, a counter, a taxi, a colleague and a lesson, which is where you will be when you need it.

Add number two next, because it is the one that works on anyone older without sounding like a form letter. Numbers one and four are situational and can wait.

Two lines that do the same job faster

Slowing someone down is not always the fastest fix. Sometimes you want the sentence again, not slower.

The second is what you hear Koreans actually use with each other. It is short enough to arrive before the moment closes, which is most of the battle. If the problem is that nothing comes out at all rather than that it came too fast, that is a different piece: what to do when nothing comes out at all.

Why slowing them down works at all

Not because the sounds get clearer. Because the gaps come back.

Spoken Korean runs words together and moves the seam between them, so a normal-speed sentence arrives as one block. Asking for slower puts the boundaries back where your eye expects them, which is why the same sentence becomes obvious the second time.

What to do this week

1. Learn number three until it arrives without thinking. It is the one you will use.
2. Learn number two as well, and notice that the verb is a different word, not a different ending.
3. Say 네? 다시 한 번요 aloud until it is automatic. It buys you more time than the long version because it arrives sooner.
4. Decide in advance which one you will use at a counter, so that you are choosing a sentence rather than building one.

The short version

천천히 말해 주세요 covers most of your life. 천천히 말씀해 주시겠어요 covers the rest. The verb changes between them, and knowing that is the difference between sounding polite and sounding assembled.

Read next

• How Do I Stop Freezing When a Korean Person Talks to Me?
• I Know the Word, So Why Can't I Hear It in Korean?