“What do you do for work” in Korean: 무슨 일을 하세요?

무슨 일을 하세요?

museun ireul haseyo?

Situation: Introductions & meeting peopleLevel: Beginner (TOPIK 1–2)

Meaning

What do you do for work?

The standard polite question about someone’s job. 하세요 adds respect for the listener.

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

Syllables: 7 · Words: 3

In natural speech, sounds link and shift across words. The table below reads each word separately, as it sounds when said on its own.

Syllable	Letters (consonant + vowel + final)	Romanization
무슨
무	ㅁ+ㅜ	mu
슨	ㅅ+ㅡ+ㄴ	seun
일을
일	ㅇ+ㅣ+ㄹ	[이] i
을	ㅇ+ㅡ+ㄹ	[를] reul
하세요
하	ㅎ+ㅏ	ha
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”.

Linking: when a syllable ending in a consonant (patchim) is followed by a syllable that starts with a vowel, the consonant moves over to the next syllable. 일을 → [이를]

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.

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
하다	verb	to do	TOPIK level 1

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Question 1 What does “무슨 일을 하세요?” mean?

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Answer: What do you do for work

Question 2 How do you say “What do you do for work” in Korean?

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Answer: 무슨 일을 하세요? museun ireul haseyo?

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