Mianhaeyo! How to Say "Sorry" in Korean - Fluent in 3 Months

How do you apologize in Korean? Well, there are two main ways to say “I'm sorry” in Korean: 죄송합니다, joesonghamnida, and 미안해요, mianhaeyo. But wait! THISishowIlearnalanguagein3months. Getthedetailshere Home»Articles»Mianhaeyo!HowtoSay“Sorry”inKorean SHARE Mianhaeyo!HowtoSay“Sorry”inKorean writtenbyCaitlinSacasas Fulldisclosure:Thispostcontainsaffiliatelinks.? HowdoyouapologizeinKorean?Well,therearetwomainwaystosay“I’msorry”inKorean:죄송합니다,joesonghamnida,and미안해요,mianhaeyo. Butwait!There’smoretoitthanthat. See,Koreanculturehasahierarchicalwayoftalking.Whatthatmeansis,youhavetotalkmoreformallytothoseolderorofhigherstatusthanyouandusecasualspeechwiththoseyoungerthanyou. Soit’simportantthatwhenyouapologizeinKorean,youpicktherightwaytosay“I’msorry”. Thismeansthatyouneedtolearntoconjugatetheverbendingtofitthesituation.(Andyes—“sorry”inKoreanisaverb,notanadjective!) Iknow,Iknow.Thissoundslikealottolearncomparedtootherlanguageswhereoneortwosimplephrasessuffice. Butit’snotasbadasitsounds—infact,Koreanisaloteasiertolearnthanyouthink. Andinfact,“sorry”canbeusedinmanywaysinKorean,soyou’llgetalotofbangforyourbuckoutofthislesson.UnlikeinEnglishwhere“sorry”justmeans“sorry”,Koreansuseitforlotsofsituations. TableofcontentsHowtoSay“I’mSorry”inKorean:FormalVersionHowtoSay“Sorry”inKorean:InformalVersionOtherWaystoApologizeinKoreanDon’tForgetTheHonorifics!Adding“I’mSorry”toaSentenceHowtoRespondto“I’mSorry”inKoreanMianhaeyo,ButOurKoreanLessonisOver! Let’sjumpintoit. HowtoSay“I’mSorry”inKorean:FormalVersion Firstup,howdoyousay“I’msorry”inKoreaninformalsituations? Weusetheverb죄송하다(joesonghada).Thisisaverbmeaning“tobesorry.” Payspecialattentiontothe하다(hada),becausewe’regoingtoswitchgearsforasecond. Whatis“hamnida”inKorean?It’stheformalendingoftheverb하다(hada).Whenwe’retalkingtosomeoneolderthanus,ofhigherstatus,orinformalsituations,weuse합니다(hamnida). Theverb하다,hada,means“tobe”andisahelpingverbthatoftenattachestomanydifferentverbs.Solearningitsconjugationisinvaluable,andwe’lluseitalotinthislesson.Itisanirregularverbthough. Itconjugateslikethis: 하다,hada:Dictionaryform해,hae:Informalform해요,haeyo:Politeform합니다,hamnida:Formalform (Ofcourse,thereareotherforms,andyoucanusethisapptohelpyougetstartedconjugating.Butfornow,thesearethebasics.) Soourhelpingverb하다(hada)getsconjugatedinpresenttensebasedontheformalityofthesituation. Nowbackto죄송하다(jeosonghada). Ifwearespeakingformally,howwouldweconjugateit? That’sright.Itwouldbe죄송합니다,joesonghamnida. Youcanalsosay죄송해요,joesonghaeyo,whichispolitebutnotaspolite.Ingeneral,though,죄송합니다(joesonghamnida)isthehonorificandmostformalwaytoapologizeinKorean. Pronunciationtip:Eventhough죄송합니다beginswitha“j”,andKoreandoeshavea“ch”characterthatisdifferent,thesetwosoundsoftenblendtogetherabit.The“j”inKoreanis*verysoftcomparedtothehard“j”inEnglish.Soitalmostsoundslikechesonghamnidaorjwesonghamnidainsteadofjoesonghamnida.(Justmakeitharderthan“ch”butsofterthan“j”.)* Also,theromanizationisquitemisleading.IfyouwanttolearnhowbesttopronounceKoreanwords,learnhowtoreadHangul. HowtoSay“Sorry”inKorean:InformalVersion IloveKoreandramas.LOVEthem.Iwatchthemallthetime.Andsomeofmyfriendswatchthem,too. KnowingthatI’vebeenstudyingKorean,theyaskedme,“WhatdoesbianemeaninKorean?” ThismademechucklebecauseItoothoughtitwas“biane”whenlisteningtotheactorsontheshowsatfirst. Butwhattheyshouldhavebeenaskingwas,“Whatdoes*mianhaemeaninKorean?” Yes,ifyouwanttoknowhowdoyousay“sorry”inKorean,youcan’tsearchbiane.Youhavetolookformianhae! ThisisthetrickypartaboutKoreansometimes.Wordsoftengetsmushedtogetherandsoundquitedifferentthanhowit’swritten.Butyougetusedtoit! Anyway,backto“sorry”inKorean. 미안하다,mianhada,means“tobesorry”aswell.Butthistime,it’snothonorific.It’sjust“sorry.” Butdoyounoticethat하다(hada)isalsoattachedheretoo? Thatmeanswecanplayaroundwiththisverbalot! Soyoucansay: 미안합니다,mianhamnida:“I’msorry”informalspeech미안해요,mianhaeyo:“Sorry”inpolitespeech미안해,mianhae:“Sorry”incasualspeech미안,mian:“Sorry”inascasualasitgets Mostoften,you’llhear미안해요(mianhaeyo)or미안해(mianhae).While미안해(mianhae)and미안(mian)arebothcasual,keepinghaeattachedshowsmorecareandsinceritythanasimplemian. OtherWaystoApologizeinKorean Ofcourse,likeinEnglish,thereareotherwaystoapologize.Youcansay“I’mreallysorry”or“it’sallmyfault.”Sometimes,“excuseme”isappropriate. ThesameistrueinKorean,solet’slookatalternatephrasestouse: 진짜미안해요,jinjjamianhaeyo:“I’mreallysorry”실례합니다,sillyehamnida:“Excuseme”잘못했습니다,jalmothaetseumnida:“Iwaswrong”제잘못이에요,jejalmosieyo:“It’smyfault”용서해주세요,yongseohaejuseyo:“Pleaseforgiveme”제발화내지마세요,jebalhwanaejimaseyo:“Pleasedon’tbemad”사과하고싶어요,sagwahagosipeoyo:“I’dliketoapologize” 사과,sagwa,means“apologize.”Soyoucanalsouseitinphraseslike진심으로사과드립니다(jinsimeulosagwadeulimnida)whichmeans“Isincerelyapologize.” Youcanalsorequestanapologywith사과해주세요(sagwahaejuseyo).Noticeyouadd해,hae,to사과,sagwa,whichisaformof하다,hada.주세요(juseyo)means“please.” Don’tForgetTheHonorifics! IalreadymentionedhowyouneedtousecertainlevelsofformalitytoapologizeinKorean.Thisdependsontheageandseniorityofthepersonyou’respeakingto. Whenindoubt,alwaysusepolitespeech! Besidesthat,therearealsohonorificsyoushouldusewhensayingtheirname. Forexample,adding님(nim)totheirnameorjobtitleismostpolite.It’slikesaying“sir”or“ma’am.” Examples: 대표님,daepyonim:CEO선생님,seonsaengnim:Teacher할아버지님,harabeojinim:Grandfather 씨(ssi)isanothercommonKoreanhonorific.It’smorelike“Mr.”or“Mrs.”inEnglish,andit’salwaysappropriatetoaddmorerespect. Youaddittotheperson’sfullnameorfirstname,like이민호씨(imin-ho-ssi)…Yes,likeKoreanidolLeeMin-ho. Soifyouwanttosoundmostsincereandshowrespect,addoneofthesehonorificstotheirnamewhenaddressingthem.YoucanlearnmoreaboutKoreanhonorificshere Adding“I’mSorry”toaSentence Ifyouwanttosay“I’msorry”withinasentenceinKorean,thenyouneedtoaddsomegrammartoit. It’sabitcomplicatedifyou’renewtoKoreangrammar,butyouuse아(a)or어서(eoseo)dependingontheverbending. Ifthefinalvowelintheverbstemendsin아(a)or오(o),thenyouuse아.Ifthefinalvowelisanythingelse,youuse어서(eoseo). 잊어버려서미안해요.ijeobeoryeoseomianhaeyo“I’msorryIforgot.” Youcouldalso-지만(jiman)tothestemof죄송하다(joesonghada)or미안하다(mianhada)tosay“I’msorrybut…”atthebeginningofasentence. 죄송하지만갈수없습니다.joesonghajimangalsueobsseumnida“I’msorrybutIcan’tgo.” 미안하지만바쁘다.mianhajimanbappeuda“I’msorrybutI’mbusy.” HowtoRespondto“I’mSorry”inKorean Butwhatifsomeoneapologizestoyou?Whatdoyousaythen? It’simportanttoknownotonlyhowtosayyou’resorry,butalsohowtorespondpolitely.ItwouldbehelpfultoreviewKoreancultureandetiquettesoyoualsoknowhowtorespondwithyourbodylanguage. Anddon’tforgettolearnhowtosay“thankyou”inKoreanaswellasessentialKoreanphrases. Butfornow,youcansayusethesephrasestoreply: 괜찮아,gwaenchana:“It’sokay”걱정하지마,geokjeonghajimaor걱정마,geokjeongma:“Don’tworry”용서해줄게,yongseohaejulge:“I’llforgiveyou”아니에요,괜찮아요,aniyo,gwaenchanayo:“No,it’sokay.Noworries”문제없어요(munjeeobseoyo):“Noproblem” 괜찮아(gwaenchana)orit’spoliteform괜찮아요(gwaenchanayo)isareallycommonwaytoreplyto“I’msorry”inKorean. Butalsoasimplewaveofyourhandand“아니요!”(aniyo)willwork,too! Mianhaeyo,ButOurKoreanLessonisOver! Sorrytobreakthenews,butthat’sitforourlessontoday! 진짜미안해요!I’mreallysorry! Butdon’tworry.ThisKoreanlessonmaybeover,butwe’vestillgotlotsmoreyoucanlearn.We’vegotawholelotofKoreanarticlestohelpyoukeepmovingforward. SowherewillyourKoreanjourneytakeyounext? HerearesomeideasforyournextstepsinKorean: HowtoUseKoreanParticles:AGuide80+KoreanSlangWordstoSoundLikeaNativeHowtoLearnKoreanFast:TheFasterWaytoSpeakKorean LearnthewayyouwantwithPod101,Benny'sfavouritewaytostartalanguage.Getyourspecialdiscounthere. CaitlinSacasas ContentWriter,Fluentin3Months Caitlinisacontentcreator,fitnesstrainer,zerowaster,languagelover,andStarWarsnerd.SheblogsaboutfitnessandsustainabilityatRebelHeartBeauty. Speaks:English,Japanese,Korean,Spanish ViewallpostsbyCaitlinSacasas Fluentin3Months:TheChallenge Havea15-minuteconversationinyournewlanguageafter90days JOINTHECHALLENGE ◂ALLARTICLES