Difference between revisions of "Greeting expression"

Latest revision as of 16:32, 15 March 2021

Greetings and farewells

Greetings

• 안녕?

안녕 is a low form of "Hi or Hello?". 안녕 is used among friends or to people who are younger than you.

you can say "하이" among friends.

you can say just "야" which means 'hey', or you can call to friends' name "지은아!" instead of '안녕?' among close friend.

and 친구와 어디서 만나기로 했을 때,

A : 야! (Hey)

B : 어, 왔어? (Hi)

• 안녕하세요?

안녕하세요 is an honorific form of "Hello?".

to acquaintances

to neighbors

to people who are older than you

to strangers

at a store

• 안녕하십니까?

안녕하십니까 is very polite form of "Hello?".

used for business

Men use this more often than women

At a customer service center, 안녕하십니까? 고객님.

• 밥 먹었어? / 식사 하셨어요?

literally means "Have you eaten?" or "Did you have breakfast/lunch/dinner?"

but the meaning is the same as "How are you?"

밥 먹었어? is low form, and 식사하셨어요? is honorific form.

actually they don't wonder if you had a meal or not. and it doesn't mean "Let’s go to eat something". So, when someone ask you '식사 하셨어요?', you can just answer "네 (Yes)".

• 어디가? / 어디가세요?

when you bump into someone on the street, you can say '어디가?' or '어디가세요?'

어디가? is low form, and 어디가세요? is honorific form.

어디가? and 어디가세요? are also means just "how are you?"

you can answer 학교 가요. or 집에 가요. or 친구 만나러 가요 or something.

if you don't want to say where you are going, you can say "볼일 보러요"

• 오래간만이다. / 오래간만입니다. (can be shorten: 오랜만이다. / 오랜만입니다.)

오래간만이다, 오래간만이야, 오래간만이네 are low form of "Long time no see."

오래간만입니다, 오래간만이네요, 오래간만에 뵙겠습니다 are honorific form.

• 잘 있었어?

잘 있었어? 어떻게 지냈어? 잘 지냈어? are low form of "How have you been?"

잘 지내셨어요? 어떻게 지내셨어요? are honorific form.

When someone asks you '잘 있었어?, 잘 지냈어?' or '잘 있었어요?, 잘 지냈어요?, you can answer '응' or '네'.

When someone asks you '어떻게 지냈어?' or '어떻게 지냈어요?' you can answer '잘 있었어' or '잘 있었어요'

• 반가워요 / 반갑습니다.

Nice to meet you.

I think Korean people hardly use this phrase. if you want to say 'nice to meet you', you can just say '안녕하세요'.

Farewells

• 안녕히계세요

Formal way of saying goodbye

Used when you are the one leaving and the other person is staying

Direct Translation: "stay well"

• 안녕히가세요

Formal way of saying goodbye

Used when you are the one staying and the other person is leaving

Direct Translation: "go well"

• 잘 가

Informal way of saying goodbye

Direct Translation: "go well"

• 안녕

Informal way of not only saying hello, but goodbye

See acceptable uses of 안녕 as a greeting, as the same applies to using it as a farewell

Apologies and thanks

Thank You

• 고마워.

고마워 is a low form of "Thank you." 고마워 is used among friends or to people who are younger than you.

and you can say "땡큐" among friends.

• 감사해. XX

High school girls sometimes say "감사감사". This is popular in internet chatting or texting. It's only used between friends.

• 고마워요.

고마워요 is used among peers (like co-wokers...) or to junior or younger than you.

고마워요 looks like honorific form but it is close to low form.

so if you use 고마워요 to senior or to people who older than you, they'll feel bad.

• 감사해요.

감사해요 is hardly used.

• 고맙습니다. 감사합니다.

고맙습니다 and 감사합니다 are honorific form of "Thank you". 고맙습니다 is pure korean, 감사합니다 is Chinese roots word.

Grammatically, 고맙습니다 and 감사합니다 are same level of honorific form. But many people consider that 감사합니다 is more honorific than 고맙습니다.

고맙습니다.
to older than you 
customer → clerk


감사합니다. 
to older than you
clerk → customer
grandchild → grandfather
student → teacher

Sorry

• 미안해.

미안해 is a low form of "I'm sorry ." 미안해 is used among friends or to people who are younger than you.

sometimes a person (usually a woman) will just say 미안. Of course, this is also low form. It is a spin off of internet chatting. It's only said when apologizing for something small.

and you can say "쏘리" among friends.

• 죄송해. XX

• 미안해요.

미안해요 is used among peers (like co-wokers...) or to junior or younger than you.

미안해요 looks like honorific form but it is close to low form.

so if you use 미안해요 to senior or to people who older than you, they'll feel bad.

• 죄송해요.

to older than you but close person

to close senior

to close boss

• 미안합니다.

to stranger (but looks like younger than you. for example, middle age person → young person)

• 죄송합니다.

very polite form

clerk → customer

employee → boss

to stranger (for example, when you bump into a person on the street)

student → teacher