How to Say “Hello” in Korean: A Complete Guide - Clozemaster

The Korean equivalent of 'hello' is '안녕'. 안녕 (an-nyeong). What does it mean. 안녕 literally means 'to be comfortable', though this meaning ... Skiptocontent Saying‘hello’inKoreanshouldbequitesimpleasthereisoneexpressionthatdirectlytranslatestotheEnglishword‘hello’.However,aswithanyexpressioninKorean,wehavetobecarefulofwhetherweusetheformalorinformallanguagedependingonthepersonwe’respeakingto.Moreover,Koreanadultsoftendon’tusetheword‘hello’togreeteachother,andtheychoosetosay‘hello’usingotherexpressions…Confused?Well,bytheendofthisarticle,youdefinitelywon’tbe. Inthisarticle,we’llfirstexplainthemostcommonwayofsaying‘hello’–boththeformalandtheinformalversion–andthenwe’llguideyouthroughsomeotherexpressionsKoreansusetogreeteachother. ‘Hello’inKorean–theinformalform TheKoreanequivalentof‘hello’is‘안녕’. 안녕(an-nyeong) Whatdoesitmean 안녕literallymeans‘tobecomfortable’,thoughthismeaningof안녕isveryformalandKoreanlanguagealsohasotherwordstodescribesomethingasbeing‘comfortable’.However,when안녕isusedasaphrase‘안녕하다’tomean‘hello’,itisusedtowishsomeoneto‘feelcomfortable’.InmodernKorean,peopledon’tthinkofitsmeaningaswishingsomeonetofeelcomfortableandmostKoreansjustknow안녕asaformofgreeting. Whentouseit 안녕isacasualformof‘hello’,sotherearecertainrulestofollowonhowtouse‘안녕’. First,안녕iscommonlyusedbetweenchildren.Thereisaformalversionof안녕,butchildrenwouldneversaythistoeachother. 안녕isalsousedbetweentwofriends,thoughforadultsovertheageofaround30,it’sonlyusedbetweenwomenratherthanmen. Lastly,안녕iscommonlyusedbetweensiblingsandbetweenparentsandchildren,thoughagain,anadultinhisorher30’sisunlikelytouse안녕totheirparents. Whydon’tadultsuse안녕? Ifyoudidn’tknowalready,Koreanlanguagehasspecificrulesonhowlanguageisused,particularlybetweenpeopleofdifferentageandrankinsocietyandinorganizations.Therearespecificformal,politeandinformalformsofeveryexpression–and안녕isnodifferent. Themainreasonwhyadults,particularlymenintheir40’sandover,don’tuse안녕isbecause안녕isprimarilyusedbychildren,andinaconservativesocietyasKorea,itwouldbeinappropriateforamaleadulttouseanexpressionthatisusedmainlybychildren. 안녕is‘hello’and‘goodbye’ Interestingly,안녕means‘hello’,butalso‘goodbye’.SoKoreanswillsay안녕whentheymeet,butalso안녕astheygotheirseparateways.So,don’tbesurprisedwhenaKoreanpersonuses안녕notonlywhenyoumeetthem,butalsowhenyou’resayinggoodbyetoeachother. ‘Hello’inKorean–theformalform Theformal‘hello’inKoreanis‘안녕하세요’. 안녕하세요(an-nyeong-ha-se-yo) Whentouseit 안녕하세요istheformalversionof안녕,andthisiswhatKoreanadultswillsaywhentheymeeteachotherforthefirsttime,orwhenadultsaresayinghellotothosetheyarenotfamiliarwith.Also,Koreanadultswillsay안녕하세요insettingswhentheyneedtobepolite,evenifthey’regreetingpeopletheyknowquitewell.Aprimeexampleofthisisattheworkplace.Adultswillgenerallyuseformalandpolitelanguagewhenthey’reatwork,whereuseofinformallanguagemaybeconsideredimpolite,andoftentimesquiterude. Also,whenadultstalktootheradultswhoareolder,orareofhigherinrankatworkplace,theywillsay안녕하세요. Lastly,whenchildrensay‘hello’toadults,theyhavetosay‘안녕하세요’–thisisanabsolutemust.Achildsayingjust안녕toanadultisconsideredveryrude. Does안녕하세요meangoodbye? Theanswerisno.While안녕means‘hello‘and‘goodbye’,안녕하세요onlymeans‘hello’.Thepoliteformofgoodbyeis안녕히계세요. 안녕히계세요(an-nyeong-hi-ge-se-yo) 계세요means‘pleasestay’,sotogetherwith안녕히,itroughlytranslatesto‘pleasestaycomfortable’.Therulesofusagearesimilarto안녕하세요.It’susedamongadultswhohavejustmetforthefirsttime,orwhoaren’tfamiliarwitheachother,andit’salsousedatplaceswhereuseofformallanguageisimportant. ‘Hello’inKorean–thesuperformalform Thefinalformof‘hello’inKoreanisthesuperformalform,whichisonlyusedbycertainpeople 안녕하십니까(an-nyeong-ha-shim-ni-ka) Whentouseit 안녕하십니까issoformalthatevenifyou’remeetingyourboyfriend,orgirlfriend’sparentsforthefirsttime,youwouldn’tuseit–itwouldmakeeveryonefeelreallyawkwardifyoudid.Koreanpeoplerarely(ifatall)usethistoeachother.Theonlyplacewhereyoumighthearpeoplesaythisisifabusinesswantstoshowutmostrespecttoitscustomers.Youwon’thearstafffromeveryrestaurantandshopusethis,butsomeshopsandrestaurantswilltraintheirstafftousethisphrasetogreettheircustomersasitdisplaysagreatdealofrespecttothecustomers. Therefore,it’simportanttonotethatwhileyou’reunlikelytoeveruseit,youwillcertainlyhearKoreanstaffusethisphrasetoyou(nexttimeyou’reonaflightonaKoreanairline,listencarefullytohowflightattendantsgreetyou). Whatweknowsofarabout‘hello’inKorean Informal‘hello’is안녕. Usedbetweenchildren Usedbetweenyoungfriends Usedbetweensiblings,andparentsandchildren Usedbetweenadultfemales. Formal‘hello’is안녕하세요. Usedbetweenadultsatfirstmeeting Usedbetweenadultsinformalsettings Usedwhenanadultistalkingtosomeoneolderorhigherinrank Usedbychildrenwhenspeakingtoadults. Superformal‘hello’is안녕하십니까. Usedbybusinessestogreettheircustomers. Sowe’vecoveredmostwaysKoreanpeoplegreeteachother,butwhataboutKoreanadultmales?Theydon’tuseanyofthethreementionedabove,sowhatdotheysaywhenthey’resayinghellototheirfriends? ‘Hello’amongadultfriendsinKorea TherearetwowaystosayhelloinKorean‘안녕’and‘안녕하세요’,andtheproblemliesinthefactthatthereareonlytwoformsof‘hello’inKorean–oneiscasualandtheotherisformal.Whileitisokayforwomenofallagestosay안녕toeachother,itisn’tsoforKoreanmen. Koreaisaratherconservativesociety,andthisisverymuchreflectedinthewaytheyuselanguage.Assuch,itwouldbeveryawkwardformaleadultstosharethesamelanguageusedbychildrentogreeteachother. ThenhowdoKoreanmaleadultssay‘hello’totheirfriends? Well,thereisnooneanswertothisquestion,butKoreanmaleadultsmayusearangeofexpressionstogreeteachother.HereafewexpressionsKoreanmenmaysayinsteadof‘hello’. 반갑다!(ban-gap-da) 반갑다means‘it’sgoodtoseeyou’andthisisperhapsthemostcommonwayforKoreanadultmalestogreettheirfriends.반갑다alsohasaformalform‘반갑습니다’(ban-gap-seum-ni-da),butsincethisisformal,itisoftenusedwhenpeoplemeeteachotherfortheveryfirsttimeanditmeans‘it’snicetomeetyou’. 잘지냈어?(jalji-ne-sseo?) Thisphraseroughlytranslatesto‘haveyoubeenwell?’,andthisisoneofthemostcommonwaysinwhichKoreanmaleadultsgreettheirfriends.Thereisalsoasimilarphrase‘잘있었어?’(jali-sseo-sseo),andthisphrasemeansthesameas‘잘지냈어?’. 오랜만이야(o-ren-ma-ni-ya) Thisphrasemeansliterallytranslatesto‘longtimenosee’,andsimilartotheEnglishphrase,youwouldusethisphrasetoaclosefriendwhomyouhaven’tseeninalongtime.Sometime,youcanusethisphraseandthephrasebeforetogetherandsay‘오랜만이야.잘지냈어?’ 얼굴보니까좋다(ul-gulbo-ni-ggajo-ta) Thefinalphraseroughlytranslatesto‘it’sgoodtoseeyourface’,andwhilethefirstthreephrasescanbeusedbypeopleofallagestogreettheirfriends,thisphraseisrarelyusedbyteenagersandchildren.Thisphraseisquitecolloquialandit’squiteaninformalwayforadultstogreeteachother. ‘Hello’inKorean–Conclusion Sothethreeformsof‘hello’are: 안녕–informal/casual 안녕하세요–formal 안녕하십니까–superformal Eachformhasspecificrulesofusage. WealsolookedatsomecommonwaysKoreanmaleadultsgreettheirfriends: 반갑다(It’sgoodtoseeyou) 잘지냈어?(Haveyoubeenwell?) 오랜만이야(Longtimenosee) 얼굴보니까좋다.(It’sgoodtoseeyouface). Knowinghowtosay‘hello’inKorean,orinanylanguageforthatmatter,isextremelyimportant,andwehopethisarticlehashelpedyoutofullyunderstandhowtosay‘hello’inKoreantherightway. Don’tforgettopracticeKoreandailywiththeClozemasterapp!감사합니다and안녕히계세요!Byefornow! LearnKoreanincontextwithClozemaster Clozemaster hasbeendesignedtohelpyoulearnthelanguageincontextbyfillinginthegapsinauthenticsentences.With featuressuchasGrammarChallenges,Cloze-Listening,andCloze-Reading,theappwillletyouemphasizeallthecompetenciesnecessarytobecomefluentinKorean. TakeyourKoreantothenextlevel.ClickheretostartpracticingwithrealKoreansentences! Postnavigation ←PreviousPostNextPost→ 1thoughton“HowtoSay“Hello”inKorean:ACompleteGuide” Verynicelesson. 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