what's the difference between "oppa" and "sunbae?"?

Question

do they mean the same thing? is "sunbae" more formal?

Answer 1

Oppa is the honorific used by females when addressing an older brother or older male friend, boyfriend, etc.



Sunbae is the informal way to refer a senior (formal way is sunbaenim).The term sunbae is used on close friends only, since it's informal. The term has nothing to do with age. A senior in this case refers to someone who is more experienced than you at something. For example:

- attended the same school as you (before you did).

-worked in the same company as you (before you did).

Anyone who entered your academic or work environment before you is sunbae.



You see, there can be people younger or the same age as you and are more experienced than you at something.



Another thing, sunbae is used for both genders.



Hope this helped :)

Answer 2

nope they are completely different



sunbae: someone who has more experience than you. say in school a sunbae is an upper class-men, at work its those who have been working their before you. it can be used on male or female. example: Krystal sunbae or Eric sunbae. you can even call them just sunbae or sunbae-nim. sunbae-nim is used when you have a lot of respect for the person at hand or you aren't close.



sunbae yes it's formal, but use sunbae unless told by the person to call them other wise.



Oppa: only used by girls to call a guy. oppa can be for your older brother, older boy you know, a crush you have, your boyfriend, or even husband ( which is trending right now in korea).





hope this helps !!!

Answer 3

Oppa is what females call older males such as male friends and sunbae is like a senior

Answer 4

Oppa is what you call for an "older brother" as a friend or for a sibling.

and Sunbae is anyone who is older than you or higher in rank whether at work or educational level

Answer 5

oppa is to teen guys older than you

sunbae is to like your teacher, boss, etc