Hello in Korean + Dos & Don'ts + History (How Do Natives Say It?) (2024)

Hi / Hello in Formal Korean

If you check it in formal Honorific Korean language, the fact that this phrase is actually a question becomes more clear. Sometimes, native Koreans say ‘안녕하십니까?’ for the formal hello in Korean. And It’s always a question. What 안녕하십니까 really means is ‘have you been well?’. The answer often goes like ‘Yes, are you well also?’

A: 안녕하십니까?
Hi, have you been well?

B: 네, 준씨도 잘 지내셨어요?
Yes, have you been well also Jun?

Many students learn it at the beginning of learning for hello in Korean. I really don’t understand why many textbooks want to teach this greeting phrase because we rarely use it and it sounds super duper formal when we hear it.

So, don’t use it! Because it’s too formal and it doesn’t sound ok when you use it in a casual situation. Somehow, it has a professional vibe. You can hear it sometimes when you go somewhere and employees say it to you. (Especially a pilot say it always when they announce something, the situation should be that formal to use this phrase)

안녕 vs 안녕하세요

Many tutorials teach you 안녕 is informal and 안녕하세요 is formal. Well… that’s not really correct explanations because both are informal but one uses honorifics, another one doesn’t. (If you really use 해요 speech style in real formal situations, that would make a lot of troubles for ya lol) Honorifics are very important to Koreans. So, they both are technically informal but 안녕하세요 uses the honorific. And THAT honorific matters to Koreans.

Different Styles of Hi / Hello in Korean

Hello in Korean has so many variations based on who says it or to whom you say it. However, I’m going to teach you the most common greetings only because, obviously, you don’t need every one of them.

And all variations has 안녕 or 강녕 in it. So you will know it’s a greeting without any trouble even if it’s new for you. So, don’t worry much. You can learn them to enjoy more Korean TV shows or movies.

안녕하십니까?
[annyeong-hasipnikka]

= Formal greeting. Sometimes you can hear it when you enter a shop or a restaurant or old men say it.

안녕하시오
[annyeong-hasio]

= It’s the greeting that you can hear from TV shows often, especially those about middle age or ancient age. (I have a very interesting thing about this, keep reading!)

(그동안) 안녕하셨어요?
[(geudongan) annyeong-hasyeosseoyo]

= It’s something you can say when you don’t see someone for a while. And it’s a perfect greeting for any situation.

(그동안) 안녕하셨습니까?
[(geudongan) annyeong-hasyeosseotseupnikka]

= Formal version of above. Again, we, native Koreans, don’t usually use formal versions. Not because you don’t have to be polite, honorific already makes your speech polite enough. Formality and honorifics are really different conceptions in the Korean language.

More Hi / Hello in Korean

여보세요?
[yeoboseyo]
Hello

= This one is ‘hello’ for making a phone call. However, it’s really not ‘hello’. Yes, we say it instead of hellp when we pick up a phone call. But as a native Korean, it sounds more like ‘Who is this?’.

오랜만이에요
[orenman-ieyo]
It’s been a while

= 오랜만이에요 is a greeting that you can say instead of ‘hello’ when you didn’t see someone for a long time. 오랜만 means ‘since a while ago’ or ‘since a long time ago’. 이에요 is ‘to be’.

(만나서) 반가워요 / 반갑습니다
[(manaseo) bangawoyo / bangapseupnida]
Happy to see you

= the word 반갑다 literally means ‘happy to see someone or to hear some news’. Usually it’s translated as ‘nice to meet you’. But Naitve Koreans use it also when they meet someone after a long time. 만나서 means ‘to meet’

안녕히 주무셨어요
[annyeonghi jumusyeosseoyo]
Did you sleep well?

= 주무시다 is an honorific word that means ‘sleep’. So, 안녕히 주무셨어요 is a question that means ‘did you sleep well?’ in a very polite honorific way. Mostly, we say it to a family (of course, to parents or grandparents), not to other people or friends.

좋은 아침이에요 / 좋은 아침입니다
[joeun achimieyo / joeun achimipnida]
Good morning

= It sounds formal. Way more formal than good morning in English. By the way, We don’t have ‘good afternoon’, ‘good evening’. (well technically, we have ‘good evening’ but it’s waaaay more formal and it doesn’t even sound like a greeting sometimes. It’s 좋은 저녁입니다.)

Don’t Use This for Hello in Korean

The Internet teaches you a lot of wrong things 😂 sometimes, even if it’s from native Koreans! So, I gathered some phrases that you shouldn’t use as a greeting or not even a greeting.

야
[ya]
Hey

= Extremely rude in general situations. It’s 반말 (non-honorific). And it’s not even a greeting! It’s something we use when we call someone like hey. And in the Korean language, ‘hey’ can’t be a greeting. Google teaches you this as ‘hey’ as a greeting. Good job Google! 😂😂😂

어이
[eoi]
Hey

= Also extremely rude in most situations. It’s also 반말 (non-honorific). Also not a greeting. It’s exactly the same to 야 but just has different pronunciation. Google also teaches you this as ‘hey’ as a greeting. Good job Google 2!

무슨 일이야?
[museon iriya]
What happened?

= It’s not ‘what’s up’. It literally means ‘What’s going on?’ or ‘What happened?’ in a bit serious tones. We don’t have ‘what’s up’ for greetings.

뭐해? / 뭐해요?
[mweohae / mweohaeyo]
What are you doing?

= Yeah… we say it before we say anything but it really doesn’t mean it’s the same as ‘what’s up?’ (we just skip saying hello. We don’t have ‘what’s up’). We usually, saying 안녕 or 안녕하세요 first and then ask ‘뭐해요?’.

밥 먹었어요? / 식사했어요?
[bap meogeosseyo / siksahaesseyo]
Did you have a meal?

= Yes, I even made a video about it. It’s a common greeting in the Korean language. However, it still doesn’t mean ‘hello’. It’s more like ‘how are you?’ and it’s used with ‘안녕하세요’. ‘Hello, how are you?’ like this.

잘 잤어요?
[jal jasseoyo]
Did you sleep well?

= Technically, not a greeting. But it’s a nice thing to say.

안뇽
[annyong]
Hi

= Yes, it’s ‘hi’ but an old internet speech style hi. And it’s the same to 안녕 which is 반말. And 반말 is often rude.

얼굴 보니까 좋다
[eolgul bonikka jota]
It’s good to see your FACE

= 반말. The honorific version is ‘(오랜만에) 얼굴 보니까 좋네요’ It literally means ‘it’s good to see your face’ so we say it when we meet some friends after a long long time (especially when we didn’t have any chance to hang out with them).

반갑다
[bangapda]
Happy to see you

= 반말 version of 반가워요 / 반갑습니다.

잘 부탁드립니다
[jal butak-deuripnida]
Look after me

= Ummm… yeah we say it sometimes when we meet someone for the first time. But you can’t replace 안녕하세요 with this. 잘 부탁드립니다 is more like ‘nice to meet you’. You can say it after introducing yourself. (Yes, that’s how you use it, AFTER introducing yourself, not hellp)

The Origin of 안녕하세요

I searched about history. Because while I’m writing this tutorial, I realized that the meaning or usage of 안녕하세요 has been changing by time. (it was a question but it’s not just a plain phrase) It was very interesting and a little surprising to me. And here is your chance to surprise your Korean friends with knowledge about the Korean language that they don’t know or realize. 😂😂😂

It’s really hard to find when or how native Koreans started to use 안녕 as a greeting. But clearly it hasn’t been very old. According to books In 1446~1600, ‘평안하시오?’ was way more common greeting than ‘안녕하세요?’. ‘안녕하세요?’ was not even very common because 안녕 used to mean peace and wellness of a country. (so, if you hear 안녕하세요 in TV shows about middle age, ancient age. Probably they greet in not the historical correct ways)

Just before 안녕하시오 became common, the common greeting was ‘어디가시오?’ which means ‘where are you going?’ according to books in 1800~1900 (Remember, this era doesn’t have a cellphone, it’s not that they could communicate all the time or that they could meet anytime).

안녕하시오 became very common after public education was started and the first textbook was published. The first textbook cleared how to greet in the Korean language and it was ‘안녕하세요?’. So, perhaps, this greeting’s history has been only about 100 years old and it’s still changing from a question to a plain sentence.

By the way, National Institute of the Korean Language didn’t clear the origin of 안녕하세요 because there was not much historical records. But yeah, this is what I found.

HELP US TO MAKE FREE TUTORIAL WITHOUT ADS!

Conclusion

Seriously, please, just say 안녕하세요. Don’t be too formal or don’t be so rude with non-honorific. And just in case, remember 안녕 also because Koreans tend to use 반말 at online sometimes.

Vocabulary Note

안녕 : Peace / Well / Welfare
그동안 : Meantime / Meanwhile / Until Now
…도 : … Too / Also
좋다 : good / nice
아침 : morning
무슨 : which / what
일 : task / job / happening / event
뭐 : what / something
밥 : rice / meal
식사 : meal
먹다 : eat
하다 : do
잘 : well
자다 : sleep
얼굴 : face
보다 : see / look / watch
부탁 : favor