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'.

table title

Korean	English
A : 안녕? B : 어, 안녕?	A : Hello? B : Oh, Hi?
A : 안녕? B : 어, 오랜만이다.	A : Hi? B : Oh, long time no see.
A : 철수야~ B : 어, 안녕?	A : Cheolsoo! B : Oh, Hi.
A : 야! B : 어, 오랜만이야.	A : Hey! B : Oh, long time no see.
A : 하이~ B : 안녕?	A : Hi~ B : Hello?
A : 안녕? B : 어, 어디가? A : 학교가. B : 그래, 가~.	A : Hi. B : Oh, Where are you going? A : School. B : Ok, go.~
A : 철수야~ B : 어, 안녕? 밥 먹었어? A : 응. 어디가? B : 집에. A : 그래. 다음에 보자.
A : 하이~ B : 안녕? 밥 먹었어? A : 아니, 이제 먹으러 갈려구. B : 나도 지금 먹을건데, 같이 갈까? A : 좋지. 가자!	A: Nice to meet you. B : Nice to meet you. Did you eat? A : No, Are you going to eat? B : I'm having right now, we can go. A: Sure. Let's go!
A : 안녕하세요? B : 네, 안녕하세요?	A : Nice to meet you. B : Yes, Nice to meet you.
A : 안녕하세요? B : 네, 식사 하셨어요? A : 네~ 식사 하셨어요? B : 네. 다음에 봬요.	A : Nice to meet you.
A : 안녕하세요? B : 네, 어디가세요? A : 슈퍼 가요. B : 네, 그럼 담에 봐요.	A : Nice to meet you.
A : 안녕하십니까, 고객님? B : 안녕하세요? A : 어떻게 오셨어요?
A : 안녕하십니까? 김철수입니다. B : 안녕하십니까.	A : Hello? I'm Kim Cheolsoo. B : Hello.
영희 : 수진아, 내 남자친구 철수씨야. 인사해. 수진 : 안녕하세요? 철수 : 네, 안녕하세요.	Young-hee : Sujin, this is my boyfriend, Chul-su. Su-jin : Nice to meet you. Chul-su : Nice to meet you too.

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