3. When to add ‘-ah’ after someone’s name

Watching videos of SJ, you may have seen people being called not only with their names, but with a suffix afterwards.

For example, Donghae would say ‘Ryeowook-ah’ when he’s talking/calling Ryeowook, in a friendly manner.

The ‘-ah’ (아) addition after a name is only for calling that person, or when you are talking to them, and you can only do so, if that person is of the same age, or are younger than you. Also, you must be familiar to them. If you’ve met them for the first time, and you’re not a child, you would be offended to be called ‘Name-ah’.

The addition of ‘-ah’ is however, restricted on their usage, actually. It’s OK to add it after all of the members’ names, but it’s incorrect to use it for Jungsoo, Hyukjae and Donghae. BUT You can add it after Leeteuk and Eunhyuk.

Why is that so? Notice how Jungsoo, Hyukjae and Donghae all have vowel ending names. Now go through all the other members (and Leeteuk and Eunhyuk). See how they all end in a consonant?

So the rule is, to use ‘-yah (야)’ instead when calling those names with the vowel ending. So Donghae would be Donghae-yah, Jungsoo would be Jungsoo-yah, not Donghae-ah or Jungsoo-ah (but Leeteuk-ah is OK) when calling them ^^