Welcome to my Korean lesson's first Korean expression lesson! As you just begin to learn Korean, a good place to start will be how to greet others. In this post, you will learn how to say hello and goodbye in Korean as well as the greeting manners!
There are so many ways to say that depending on the politeness and situations, but since you just started to learn I will introduce the most commonly used greeting expressions with explanations!
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1. Hello
안녕 [an-nyeong] is a greeting word like "hi". It originally meant "peace". So, people use it as a question, "안녕? Are you in peace? / Were you in peace?" It can be used as a statement with the period "안녕." or with the exclamation point "안녕!" as well.
Here, I will show you two ways to say hello depending on the politeness. If you click the speaker icons, you will be able to listen to it. Please listen and repeat them!
a) Polite way to say "Hello" in Korean.
안녕하세요? [an-nyeong-ha-sae-yo?]
안녕하세요. [an-nyeong-ha-sae-yo]
Those expressions above are polite ways to say "Hello" in Korean. They are polite but still somewhat friendly, so it is commonly used in daily conversation. You can use it for people older than you or you have a higher social status than you (like a teacher or boss). You can also use it for people you do not know well (like a stranger on the street).
Did you notice? The intonations of the question "안녕하세요?" and the statement "안녕하세요." are a little bit different. Try to listen again and find the difference! The intonation of the question rises at the end while the statement remains the same.
b) Not polite - casual way to say "Hello."
안녕? [an-nyeong]
안녕. [an-nyeong]
Those expressions above are not polite ways to say "Hello" in Korean. They have a very friendly tone, so you can use them for people who are the same age or younger than you. In Korea, age is a very important factor in choosing the level of politeness. If the listener is older than you, even though you consider them as your friends, you should not use this one.
See how the student and the teacher say the different versions of "Hello."
2. Nice to meet you.
만나다 [man-na-da] means to meet. 반갑다 [ban-gap-dda] means to be glad. To say nice to meet you, you will say like below depending on the politeness. They will be used when you see someone for the first time.
a) Polite version
만나서 반가워요. [man-na-seo ban-ga-wo-yo]
It is a polite version of saying "Nice to meet you." It is good to use for the most of people you just meet. Even though you don't know the grammar behind it, it is good to remember those kinds of expressions as one chunk!
b) Not polite version
만나서 반가워 [man-na-seo ban-ga-wo]
If you know the listener is definitely the same age or younger than you, you can greet with this version. For example, if you introduce yourself in the classroom for the new school year, you can use this one!
3. Goodbye.
There are many ways to say goodbye in Korean. Not only depends on the level of politeness but also the situation of who is leaving and who is staying matter as well.
a) Say "Stay well." to someone who will stay.
안녕히 계세요. [an-nyeong-hi gye-sae-yo] - Polite
잘 있어. [jal ee-sseo] - Casual
The word "있다" [ee-dda] has multiple meanings, but in this context, it refers to "to stay." On the other hand, "계시다" [gye-si-da] is the formal or honorific version of "있다" [ee-dda]. Therefore, when bidding farewell to someone, you can use the conjugated form of these verbs and say "안녕히 계세요" [an-nyeong-hi gye-sae-yo] or "잘 있어" [jal ee-sseo], which means "Stay in peace" or "Stay well." The word "잘" [jal] means "well."
b) Say "Go well" to someone who will leave.
안녕히 가세요. [an-nyeong-hee ga-sae-yo] - Polite
잘 가. [jal ga.]
가다 [ga-da] means to go. If someone is leaving, you can say "안녕히 가세요. [an-nyeong-hi ga-sae-yo] or 잘 가 [jal ga]. The first one is the polite expression that you can use most of the time. The second one is for your friends or someone of the same age or younger people.
c) For both situations
The good news is if you are saying goodbye to your friends or someone younger than you, you can just say "안녕. [an-nyeong]" no matter if you leave or stay.
안녕. [an-nyeong] Goodbye.
* Did you notice?
The casual form with a period "안녕." can be both hello and goodbye in Korean. However, 안녕 with a question mark "안녕?" is only can be used as "Hello." - You can ask someone if they are in peace, but you can't question their future peace.
Here is the chart to help you to understand them better! If you click the expressions, you can hear them! Please listen and repeat!
4. Korean Greeting Manners
When you greet someone in your country, how do you do that? Do you wave? Do you bow? Do you use the same greeting way to older people as well as to your friends?
In Korea, people usually bow their heads to greet. Especially if you greet someone older or who has a higher social status than you, you can lower your head a lot to show more respect. People call the very polite vow a 90° greeting because you fold your body almost looks like the right angle.
In more equal relationships, like similar-age colleagues, they can slightly vow their heads. Between friends, people usually wave their hands. Waving hands is a Western-influenced method but it is commonly used these days. People shake their hands as well - also Western-influenced- especially in business situations. Usually, a higher social status person offers a hand. Still, when in handshaking situations, the younger person lowers the head as well.
5. Wrap-Up & Worksheets: Hello and goodbye in Korean
There are many ways to say hello and goodbye depending on the politeness and situation! Here are the top-most needed to memorize expressions for you! They are polite but somewhat friendly, so good to use in daily conversation.
안녕하세요. Hello.
안녕히 가세요. Go well.
안녕히 계세요. Stay well.
만나서 반가워요. Nice to meet you.
There are actually three levels of politeness, but I only showed you two, polite and not polite here. You will eventually learn the most polite, super strict formal ones in the future!
Here are some free, printable PDF worksheets for you. First, practice writing sentences. Make sure to read aloud or listen and repeat again using the audio clips in the lesson. Once you are ready, check your understanding with the quiz worksheet. I attached the answer sheet as well. So, please check if your answer after solving!
Practice writing
Quiz
How was the lesson today? I hope My Korean Lesson can help your Korean learning journey! If you have any questions, please scroll down and leave a comment! If you want to keep learning, click the bottom button to go to the next lesson about the "be" verb in Korean.