Hello, I have been learning Korean for a while and have asked the same question. I said, "Why not just 요 as in 가요, what is the purpose of 세 in the form 가세요?" Actually, 요 and ㅂ니다 are different levels of politeness and formality, as you would know. As another person so well illustrated, you may use 세요 as a common and polite way to ask for things. Generally even with people that you usually use 요 with you would not tell them to 'go!' by saying 가요. Instead, because it is a command, you use 가세요. However, because this is Korean (if you don't know what I mean you will soon enough [emoji]), there is more to it than just making a command polite. Actually, when talking about someone who is esteemed or deserves respect; whether that be the person you are talking to (about them) or someone else (maybe about their mother), you add the particle 시 to the verb. For some reason, 가다->가시다 becomes 가세요 (won't go into that), in the polite form. So, what I'm trying to get at is that while 가요 and 갑니다 give respect TO YOUR AUDIENCE, 가세요 (and the formal respectful version 가십니다) give respect to WHO YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. Example, 집에 가요. I'm going home. (To someone else) 집에 가세요? Is he/she~Are you going home? In the above examples, you are actually showing the SAME amount of politeness in both examples. Why? Because the 요 means it's in polite form. However, the respect is shown more in the second example for the other person. NOTE: NEVER EVER USE 시/세 ABOUT YOURSELF! You cannot say: 집에 가세요 when someone asks you 'where are you going?'. Instead, use 요 or ㅂ니다 to give politeness/formality to the audience; not respect to yourself. This is a confusing aspect of the Korean language but after a bit you'll get the hang of it. Sometimes I still make mistakes with 시/세. Extra note: you can actually use 시 (or it's variations) with informal speech. E.g 그게 아버님은 주셨어? Did your dad give you that? The 셨 (past 시) shows respect for his audience's father, without giving his audience more respect. 수고하세요