Greeting expression

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'.

Korean	İngilizce
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

Apologies and thanks

Note Apologies and thanks