내 이름을 불러 줘

The line, explained

This is the kind of hook you hum before you know what it means. 내 이름을 불러 줘 — 'call my name'. The grammar is -아/어 줘, an ending you will hear in nearly every K-pop song ever written, because it does something English struggles with: it turns a command into a request simply by adding the idea of a gift.

내 is 'my', the casual form you use with friends and in lyrics. 이름 means 'name', and the 을 after it is the object marker — it tells you the name is what the action is being done to. Korean uses 을 after a consonant and 를 after a vowel, so 이름을 but 너를. Together, 내 이름을 is 'my name' lined up and ready for the verb that comes last.

불러 comes from 부르다, 'to call out', and also 'to sing' — the same verb covers both, which songwriters adore. Changing 부르다 into its -어 form triggers a small spelling shift: the ㄹ doubles and you get 불러 instead of 부르어. This 르 → 러 change happens with other common verbs too (모르다 → 몰라, 빠르다 → 빨라), so it is worth noticing once.

줘 is the key. It is the casual command form of 주다, 'to give'. Attached after a verb, it means 'do that action and give it to me' — do it for my sake. So 불러 is simply 'call', a bare command, while 불러 줘 is 'call, for me', a request with a hand held out. The grammatical weight of 'give' is what makes the line feel like asking instead of ordering.

You will find this everywhere once you know it. 도와 줘 (help me), 말해 줘 (tell me), 안아 줘 (hold me), 잊지 말아 줘 (please don't forget). Make it polite with 주세요: 불러 주세요. And swap the verb in today's line to see how the request bends: 내 이름을 기억해 줘 (remember my name) is tender, 내 이름을 외쳐 줘 (shout my name) is a stadium, 내 이름을 적어 줘 (write my name) is a confession.