ㅂ니까

formal polite question ending

Closes a question in the most formal spoken style — announcements, interviews, staff talking to customers, the military: 어떻게 됩니까? 'what happens?', 누구라고 생각합니까? 'who do you think it is?'. It follows stems ending in a vowel or ㄹ; after a consonant the ending is 습니까. Its matching statement form is -ㅂ니다. Next to 어요? or 나요? it sounds crisp and businesslike rather than warm, and among friends it reads as stiff or deliberately comic.

Register: formal (합쇼체)