께

RuleHonored recipient + kke: when the receiver is to be respected, kke replaces ege/hante (object honorification).

Curiosity

chingu-ege seonmul-eul jwoyo ("I give a gift to a friend") sounds fine. But if the receiver is your teacher, can you still use ege?

Intuition

Honor extends not only to the subject but also to the person the action reaches (the object). kke marks deference toward the receiver: "the one this action reaches ranks high."

Visualization

Step up one level from a plain dative to an honored one: chingu-ege → seonsaengnim-kke. The ege/hante turns into kke.

Honorificobject honorification

친구에게chingu-egeplain dative (ege/hante)

Essence

kke is object honorification and often pairs with deurida, the honorific of "to give": seonsaengnim-kke seonmul-eul deuryeoyo ("I give a gift to the teacher"). ege is written/formal, hante is colloquial — both become kke for an honored receiver. Do not confuse it with kkeseo (subject), which looks similar.

Examples

선생님께 선물을 드려요.

I give a gift to the teacher. (honorific)

부모님께 편지를 써요.

I write a letter to my parents. (honorific)

친구에게 전화했어요.

I called a friend. (plain)

Mini-quiz

"seonsaengnim__ seonmul-eul deuryeoyo." (I give a gift to the teacher) — which fits an honored receiver?