(이)시여
(i)siyeo
Grammar · 1 sense
Polite address
Examples
전능자시여 우리에게 자비를 베풀어 주옵소서.
Almighty God, have mercy on us.
하늘이시여, 우리를 지켜 주소서.
O God please watch over us.
When you'd hear it
This is a highly elevated, old-fashioned vocative form found mainly in prayers, hymns, religious writing, and dramatic or literary speech. It is not used for ordinary polite address in conversation or the workplace.
What learners get wrong
The honorific 시 in (이)시여 is part of the form, while 여 is the vocative ending; it is not the everyday polite ending 세요. Compare the more general vocative -(이)여, which does not itself add the honorific meaning.
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