How can we say "Thank you." or "I'm sorry" in Korean? In this lesson, you will learn how to express gratitude, apologize, and answer them in Korean. Those are very useful expressions in daily life! Please follow me one by one and try to memorize the important expressions!
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1. Thank you.
Koreans have many versions of "Thank you." depending on the different levels of politeness. Here I will show you all three levels of expressions. You can listen to the expressions in the chart!
I recommend you to remember the middle ones in the chart especially. "감사해요." and "고마워요." are the informal (conversational) present tense ending.
When a sentence ends with "요," that means it is polite but somewhat friendly. It is usually used in daily life. During expressions lessons, if you see expressions in different levels of politeness, it is always good to memorize the ones ending with "요."
Usually, if you remove 요, you can make casual sentences. Casual sentences are not polite at all. They are used to talk to friends or people who are younger than you. You'll learn more details about casual endings in the future.
As you see, there are two words for "Thank" in Korean. 감사하다 is the Sino-Korean version and 고맙다 is the native Korean word. Sometimes people consider Sino-Korean to be politer than native Korean and think 감사하다 to be politer than 고맙다.
However, according to the National Institute of the Korean Language that is not true. You can use it both without the differences. In fact, these days, news reporters use "고맙습니다." more to encourage people to use native Korean expressions.
2. Accepting "Thanks."
When someone says "Thank you." in English, "You are welcome." is the common phrase to answer. In Korean, there is a similar expression, but it is not commonly used.
Instead, people will politely deny your thanks as if they don't deserve your gratitude. It can be close to "No problem," for saying.
Take a look at the chart below. You can listen by clicking the speak icons. The top row is the most polite and the bottom low is not polite (very friendly) way.
Again, I recommend you memorize the middle ones in the chart. You can say "아니에요." to your teacher, colleagues, work manager, and so on!
3. I am sorry.
There are many "Sorry" expressions depending on the politeness. Again try to memorize the middle ones. Click each expression to listen and repeat!
죄송하다 means "feel too sorry almost feel guilty." 미안하다 means "feel uncomfortable and embarrassed". So, 죄송하다 has a stronger sorry vibe.
So, even though 미안합니다 is conjugated with the polite ending, 죄송합니다 sounds a little more polite and genuine. If you did something wrong in your office and need to apologize to your boss, definitely use 죄송합니다, not 미안합니다.
4. That's okay.
Here is how we can answer "I'm sorry." You can use the different versions of "No problem" or you can also say "That is okay." The basic form of "to be okay" in Korean is 괜찮다. It can be conjugated like the chart below. Please click the speaker icons to listen and repeat!
If you have to be super polite, please answer using "괜찮습니다" like to your boss or grandparents. "괜찮아" is an expression for friends or people of the same or younger age. Other than that, usually, you can say "괜찮아요."
5. Examples
You've learned a lot of expressions! Let's review them here with example situations.
1
A young child broke the window of a neighbor's house.
가: 죄송합니다.
나: 괜찮아.
가 is a child, so he used the most polite version of "I'm sorry." 나 is an adult, so he can use the not polite version to 가. As you see, age is one of the factors that can decide the politeness level.
2
A server spilled water on a customer.
다: 정말 죄송합니다. I'm really sorry.
라: 괜찮아요. That's okay.
정말 means "really". You can attach it to emphasize your apology. It is good to use expressions ending with "요" (the informal, conversational polite ending) to answer a stranger or someone you don't know well.
3
A person 마 helped the colleague 바. They have similar positions at work and the same age. But they want to be polite to each other at work.
마: 고마워요. Thank you.
바: 아니에요. 괜찮아요. No problem. That's okay.
Even though they are the same age and have similar social statuses, it'll still be good to show some respect to each other at work. So, instead of using "un-polite" ones, they are using the sentences with "요" ending.
4
A student 사 accidentally bumped into his classmate 아.
사: 미안해! I'm sorry.
나: 괜찮아. That's okay.
Between friends, you use the informal, not polite, friendly version. It can be called a casual form or a low form of speech. In Korean, we call it 반말 [ban-mal].
5
A student 사 helped his classmate 아.
아: 진짜 고마워. Thank you so much.
사: 아니야. No problem.
Once again, between friends, you can just use the casual form! 진짜 is a synonym of 정말. Both mean "really".
6. Wrap-up & Worksheets: Show gratitude and apology in Korean
Depending on the politeness, there are different expressions you can choose. Here are the top-most needed to memorize expressions for you! They are polite but somewhat friendly, so good to use in daily conversation with an older person or even with a stranger!
감사해요. Thank you.
아니에요. No problem.
죄송해요. I'm sorry.
괜찮아요. That's okay.
Here are some free, printable PDF worksheets for you! You can practice writing with the first two worksheets. Check your understanding with the quiz worksheet as well!
1. Thank you practice
2. I'm sorry practice
3. Quiz
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