6 Unique Ways To Say HELLO In Korean 

 May 19, 2022

By  Akshita Agarkar

One of the first words that we learn as language learners is none other than Hello. We all know how to say it in the Korean language, but do you know there can be 10 different ways to say Hello in Korean?

Third one will definitely be something new for you!ย 


1) ์•ˆ๋…•ํ•˜์„ธ์š”

The most common and first words learned by any student is ์•ˆ๋…•ํ•˜์„ธ์š” (annyeong-haseyo). It comes from ์•ˆ๋…•ํ•˜๋‹ค (annyeong-hada), and unlike Englishโ€™s Hello, this adjective has a meaning. It means โ€œpeace, well beingโ€.

์•ˆ๋…•ํ•˜์„ธ์š”? Used to come with a question mark since it was a question when asked meant that the person wanted to ask you โ€œAre you at peace?โ€, โ€œAre you good?โ€.ย 


2) ์•ˆ๋…•ํ•˜์‹ญ๋‹ˆ๊นŒ

์•ˆ๋…•ํ•˜์‹ญ๋‹ˆ๊นŒ (annyeong-hashimnikka) is the honorific version of ์•ˆ๋…•ํ•˜์„ธ์š”. However, as the first version is used widely in everyday language, this formal one differs from the situation.

์•ˆ๋…•ํ•˜์‹ญ๋‹ˆ๊นŒ has been used only in extremely formal settings, maybe in the news channel or political discussions on the television.

People donโ€™t choose to use this in daily life.ย 

 

See also: 10 Simple Ways to say THANK YOU in Koreanย 


3) ๋ฐฅ ๋จน์—ˆ์–ด์š”?

If we were to breakdown ๋ฐฅ ๋จน์—ˆ์–ด์š”? (bab-meog-eoss-eoyo?), we get ๋ฐฅ which means cooked rice and ๋จน์—ˆ์–ด์š”? Which means โ€œhave you had?โ€ or โ€œdid you have?โ€.

However, ๋ฐฅ also stands for โ€œmealโ€ in Korean language. Not grammatically or linguistically, but culturally. Since Koreaโ€™s main food is rice, they love to have it everyday. Which is why itโ€™s culturally a factor to ask somebody if they have eaten sometimes as even Hello.

Interesting, isnโ€™t it?


4) ์ž˜ ์ง€๋‚ด์„ธ์š”?

Sometimes people skip ์•ˆ๋…•ํ•˜์„ธ์š” and directly mean to ask โ€œHow are you?โ€. And for this we have ์ž˜ ์ง€๋‚ด์„ธ์š”? (Jal Jinaeseyo?). This is purely in the honorific format and you can use this with your superior, colleagues, even your friends parents, and whoever you use a formal tone with.ย 

The literal meaning is โ€œAre you good?, Are you well?โ€.ย 

 

Also read: Benefits of learning Korean in India in 2022ย 


5) ์ข‹์€ ์•„์นจ์ด์—์š”ย 

์ข‹์€ ์•„์นจ์ž…๋‹ˆ๋‹ค/์•„์นจ์ด์—์š” literally means Good Morning. One can definitely replace Hello with Good morning.


6) ๋งŒ๋‚˜์„œ ๋ฐ˜๊ฐ‘์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค.ย 

๋งŒ๋‚˜์„œ ๋ฐ˜๊ฐ‘์Šต๋‹ˆ๋‹ค (mannaseo phangapseumnida) literally meaning, โ€œAfter meeting you, I feel pleased, gladโ€. The phrasal meaning however is Nice to meet you.ย 

 

The next time you meet someone, you have 6 different ways to greet them!

Akshita Agarkar


Akshita Agarkar graduated from Journalism and Mass Communication while working as a Freelance Content Writer. Currently, she is working with Learn Korean In India as a Content Manager and a Teaching assistant. She is a Korean linguist and culture enthusiast who loves to read linguistics, listen to old-school music, and jam on it.

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