매튜의 한국어 연습 블로그

order up. If you met a friend at a restaurant and wanted to ask if he or she already ordered food yet, what verb would you use? "시켰어?" or "주문했어?" Don't they mean the same thing? Let's take a look:

주문하다 (注文)
order, request

시키다
order, command

명령하다 (命令)
order, command, instruct

As you can see, the first two examples both mean virtually the same thing. However, the social position of the speaker and listener must be considered. 시키다 does sound a bit more harsh and carries a more authoritative tone to it than 주문하다 which is just plain jane "to order" as in food. 시키다 has more meaning outside of simply ordering food; it carries the nuance of "to order someone to do something" (명령). 주문하다 does not. Of course, when talking about food, it makes little difference when speaking about yourself:

감자탕을 주문했어요.
감자탕을 시켰어요.
I ordered pork-on-the-bone soup

Furthermore, it might be more common for a socially higher person to use 시키다 to a socially lower person. In the same vein, a socially lower person would prefer to use 주문하다 to a socially higher person. There is a small exception to that, though. When a customer tells a server that they are ready to order, despite possibly being "higher" than the server/waiter, they will almost certainly say 주문할게요 or 주문하겠습니다 and not 시킬게요. Just one of those things.

More examples:

고객님, 주문하신 상품이 도착했습니다.
Sir, the things you ordered have arrived.

오늘 점심을 배달주문할게요.
I'll order in for lunch today.

제가 주문한 음식이 아닌 것 같습니다.
This doesn't seem like what I ordered.

나 대신 점심 좀 시켜줄래?
Can you order lunch for me?

그 애에게 말을 시켜 보세요.
Try to get this kid to talk.

와이프가 나한테 집안일을 시켰어요.
My wife told me to do some housework.