His father had to work in Korean 🇰🇷

Sentence info.

그 분의:
 • 그 (geu) = “that”
 • 분 (bun) = a respectful term for “person” (here implying “he”)
 • 의 (ui) = possessive particle (“’s”)
 → Combined: “그 분의” means “his” in a polite or respectful context.

아버지는:
 • 아버지 (abeoji) = “father”
 • 는 (neun) = topic marker
 → Combined: “아버지는” indicates that “father” is the topic, i.e., “(as for) father.”

일하셔야 했어요:
 • 일하셔야 comes from the honorific form of 일하다 (“to work”); the base form is 일하시다, which becomes 일하셔야 when expressing obligation using the connective 야 (from “-야 하다”, meaning “must/need to”).
 • 했어요 is the past tense of 하다 (“to do”), indicating that the obligation existed in the past.
 → Combined: “일하셔야 했어요” means “had to work.”

Overall Translation: “His father had to work.”

Tips to Remember:
 • Notice the use of 분 to add politeness when referring to someone respectfully.
 • The topic marker 는 attaches to 아버지, highlighting “father” as the subject under discussion.
 • The construction “셔야 했어요” comes from combining the honorific form 일하시다 with the obligation ending -야 하다, then converted into past tense with 했어요.

Alternate Ways to Say “His father had to work”:
 • 그의 아버지는 일해야 했어요.
  – “그의” (geuui) is another way to say “his,” less formal than “그 분의.”
 • 아버지께서는 일하셔야만 했어요.
  – Using 께서는 (kke-seoneun) elevates the honorific reference for “father” even further, and adding -만 emphasizes the necessity.

Romanized Sentence:
 “Geu bun-ui abeoji-neun ilhasyeoya haesseoyo.”

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