Even if you don't learn much Korean, a few words or phrases will go a long way. This page has some simple words and phrases you'll hear often and are worth learning. People are usually very sympathetic to broken Korean as they are happy you are making an effort, even if you might be difficult to understand. Being able to say the first word in this list, which is a simple "hello", often gets positive replies stating your Korean ability is really good. If you do get that response, the best way to reply is to be humble and tell them your Korean isn't very good, or simply "no" which is also on this list. Like other pages on this site, the hanja is provided if it exists and terms use the official Romanization standard in South Korea.
Annyeong haseyo, 安寧하세요
The most useful word in Korean is a greeting which is very similar to Shalom or Salaam mixed with Aloha. If you learn this common greeting, you can learn a good number of derivatives. The first two morpheme blocks (안녕) are frequently translated as "peace" and can be used in informal situations or when greeting kids. You will need the 하세요 ending to be polite, so make sure not to drop that part off. Much like how Aloha can be used for "hello" or "goodbye", with the 안녕 root you can also add on several endings for "goodbye" that are specific if you or the other person is leaving. If the other person is going, or if you are both leaving, you can say 안녕히 가세요 (annyeonghi gaseyo) which can be translated as "peace be with you as you go" or "take care/see you later". If you are leaving but the other party is staying, you can say 안녕히 계세요 (annyeonghi gyeseyo) which can be translated as "peace be with you as you stay". This is also used by people leaving a taxi but the driver, despite them going to drive off, the driver will stay in the car.
Hangungmal jal motaeyo, 韓國말 잘 못해요
A good way to learn a culture is to learn a bit of its language. If you spend time learning Korean you’ll notice there is a fair amount of modesty built in, if only for politeness sake. Being able to give the greeting written above will give a very position impression. They might compliment you on your linguistic ability with “한국말 잘 해요” and the culturally appropriate response is to downplay your ability by saying 한국말 잘 못해요. Broken down this is 한국말 (Korea words) 잘 (good) 못 (not/negative) 해요 (to do). As time goes by this statement will become less and less true but it is still good to use regardless of your actual ability.
Bangapseumnida
If you are meeting someone for the first time, especially in times of introductions, this mini sentence meaning “nice to meet you” can be very useful. If business cards are being swapped, make sure to give and receive cards with two hands and give it a good look for a few seconds before putting it into a pocket. Unconjugated form is 반갑다 and to make a more complete sentence you could say 만나서 반갑습니다 which adds the word “to meet” (만나다).
Gamsaseumnida, 感謝합니다
There are two words to thank people and this is the easiest and by far the most common. From the root 감사 which means “to thank” added with a formal conjugation. The other way to thank people is 고맙습니다 which is from 고맙다.
Ne
The word for "yes" in Korean can be used to mean more than a simply "yes." It can also be "that's right" or "ah, I got it/I see" when you elongate that last vowel (아... 네, a... ne). It can be used to show you are listening both on the phone or face to face but does not imply you understand nor agree. And when 네 is used as a question it implies more of "wait... what?" If you find yourself in a more formal situation with someone higher on a hierarchy than yourself, you can use 예 (ye). If you are close with someone you can also use it to answer a phone.
Aniyo
If you learn "yes" you might as well learn "no". The 요 (yo) ending makes it more polite and you'll see this ending all the time if you keep studying Korean. Remove the 요 and the word becomes informal.
Hwajangsil, 化粧室
One of the most useful words in any language, especially when truly needed, is to say "bathroom" or "restroom." Just saying this noun is enough; people will understand and point you in the right direction. As British English was never very dominate in Korea, "water closet" or the shortened "W.C."" will not be well understood and is very rarely written on signs.
Eodiseyo
While that is the official Romanization, the eo sounds more like oh. This ending means "where is..." and simply add a noun in front of it and you have a full question sentence, for example 화장실 어디에요? You'll notice the 세요 from the first word and the 요 from 아니요, which means this is polite. If you drop the 세요 it also is usable but no longer formal.
Jamsimanyo, 暫時만요
Directly translated as “little + time + stop” this can be translated as “just a moment” or “excuse me” as used when you need to get past people either on the street or when trying to exit a bus or subway. You still may need to push a bit if the public transit medium is crowded, but saying this first will protect you from people giving you dirty looks as you are legitimately trying to be polite but need to exit.
Joesonghamnida, 罪悚합니다 -or- Mianhamnida, 未安합니다
The ability to apologize will prove itself useful and there are two common ways to do so. The first term is more “oops, sorry about that” which is a gentler form and shows less sorrow on the part of the speaker. The less is a deeper form showing more regret and more emotion.
Jeoneun
You might be surprised that personal pronouns have not appeared on this list, and that is because they are frequently omitted in everyday speech and they are several forms for "me" and several for "you". If you use the wrong form, it will sound too polite or too casual. It is better to be too polite than too casual, so let's use a polite form for "me"; 저는. The 는 (neun) at the end is a topic particle marker and can be dropped when changing to possessive form 저의 (jeoui) or conjugated form 제 (je).
Isseoyo
The verb meaning "to be" is very common and can be combined with some nouns. This is a conjugated form of the word 있다 (itda). You'll notice the Romanizations of the conjugated and unconjugated forms differs with "ss" in the former and "t" in the latter. This is when one morpheme block ends with a consonant and the next block starts with a different consonant. This is why the ㅅ or ㅆ and other consonants can have several different sounds. Like other verbs, different conjugations have different levels of politeness.
Eopseoyo
The next verb worth knowing will be "to not be" and is also very common and also can be combined with some nouns. This is a conjugated form of the word 없다 (eopda). When you ask a question like "do you have...?" people don't use 있어요 but instead ask "do you not have...?" which requires use of 없어요.
Masisseoyo
Combining the word "taste" (맛, mat) with the verb "to be" (있다) results in a word meaning "tasty". The unconjugated form is 맛있다 (masitda). The word 맛 is also frequently connected with the word 집 (jip) which can mean "home" or "restaurant" and is written as 맛집 (matjip).
Maewoyo
Most people are proud of the food their country offers and Korea is not different in this regard. People raised in this country are told their food is very spicy, so spicy that international peoples have difficulty eating it. The word for spicy, 매워요, is something you'll hear often especially by restaurant staff who are concerned if you can eat a specific dish. Like other words in this list, this is a conjugated polite form and is from the root 맵다 (maepda). If you like spicy food, that's great, if not you might want to learn this term so you can confirm if a dish is something you want to eat. If you want to ask "is this food spicy?" you can simply add a question mark to 매워요 and now it is a full sentence; 매워요? The words "is this food" can be understood by context and don't need to be asked. There are a few kinds of green and red chillies grown in Korea and their scoville scale will differ. But a good basic rule of thumb is red food = spicy.
Gwaenchanayo
Like some other words in this list, this term can be used all by itself as a full sentence or paired with other words to make a fuller sentence. Meaning "to be alright", this can be used as a question or a statement. In reference to 매워요 above, 괜찮아요 is a good reply to tell people you are fine with spicy food. If you aren't, you can add 안 (an) to the front: 안괜찮아요. The unconjugated form is 괜찮다 (gwaenchanda).
Oegukin, 外國人
The term literally means "outside + nation + person" is a term used in Korea for non-Koreans living in Korea. While the term is technically is tied to citizenship, even if people change their citizenship to South Korean they are still referred to as 외국인 and is one reason why government census sometimes mentioned the number of 외국인 has passed 1% of the total population. The semantic meaning of the term really is "non-Korean" as it isn't tied to citizenship and is used to talk about native people in their home country, for example the Spanish in Spain. At IBS we are trying to use the default translation "foreigner" less and use other terms, such as "international" or "global" as they are more inclusive terms.
Yeoboseyo
Much like the Japanese language has one word for face-to-face greetings and another for phone call greetings (もしもし), Korean is the same. 여보세요 is used for saying "hello" when answering the phone and frequently also by the person who initiated the call. If one party goes silent during the conversation, the other person will say 여보세요? as a question to see if they are still connected. While knowing this word is useful, it is also a sign that people will interpret as your Korean being better than what it really is.
Bballi
Korea is a country that moves fast, changes fast, and has some of the fastest internet on the planet. People here are proud of how fast things happen and are used to things happening quickly. The term 빨리 or more frequently saying it twice is used for "fast" or "quickly". Knowing this term gives a unique insight to understanding the culture and people will therefore be impressed you know it.
Juui, 注意
These next few words you won't hear spoken very often but will see on occasion and recognizing them would be helpful. The term 주의 means "warning" and usually is combined with another word to two to tell you what to be careful of. 미끄럼 주의 is common for "wet floor", 취급주의 is "be extremely careful", and 합류주의 is sometimes in parking garages warning drivers of vehicles merging.
Pyemun, 閉門
This is a term you'll frequently see written on an individual door when there is a set of doors. While this simply means "closed" or "locked shut" the most common translation for bilingual signs is "fixed" as in "fixed in place". If you ask people as to the reason one door in a set is always locked, they will be hard pressed to give rationale. Sometimes people cite air conditioning or heating, others might mention the difficulty in securing two doors. Regardless of the reason, it is very common and could be the left door or the right.
Gojang, 故障
This single word is frequently written by hand onto paper and taped onto a mechanical device. Meaning "out of order" this word you won't see often but when you see it on, for example a vending machine, don't put your money in as it won't be getting anything for it.
While learning a foreign language it can be fun to learn a few casual terms; things people never expect you to know as they are informal and therefore not taught in a language textbook. These are all fun expressions which can help lighten the mood. People will also be impressed you know these unique terms as it shows you have an interest in their country and their culture.
Assa
This is used for the small victories in life. The times where you get over a moderate hurdle and it makes you happy. Equivalents can be “alright!”, “yeah!”, “there we go!” Alternative Romanization can be “ah sa”. If you want more emphasis elongate the last “a” or add another “a” at the end; “ah sa ah!”
Daebak, 大박
The Chinese character 大 indicates that this is for the bigger victories - the harder fought wins or even a "jackpot!" For additional emphasis elongate the “ae” as in 대~박.
Maenbung, 멘崩
Maybe better written phonetically as men-bung, this is an abbreviated form of 멘탈붕괴 (멘탈崩壞, mental bunggoe) or literally “mental + collapse/shock”. This Konglish term is used for someone who is in shock as things not only didn’t go well, but went so badly their mind can’t comprehend it. This is preparing a dinner for two hours and then bumping the pan and it ends up on the floor. This is doing a week’s worth of research only to discover a step was missing. Clearly, not the happiest of times. But using this term after the fact can help lighten the mood or can make a small issue a whole lot light. For a full informal statement “멘붕이야” ( menbungiya) can be used.
Bulgeum, 불金
Directly translated this is “fire + Friday” and is used more like a TGIF (Thank God It's Friday). It usually is used after lunch as half of the day is already over and can sometimes be used for other days, primarily Thursday (불목, Bulmok) but to make a fun mood, feel free to use it for other workdays.
Worabael
This is an abbreviated form of 워크 라이프 밸런스 which is phonetically "work life balance". Traditionally, people have dedicated themselves too much to work and so this generation is trying to have more of a balance then their parents had. But finding how to properly balance the two is difficult. For students, usually high school or university, the struggle they have is a “school life balance” so they’d say 스라밸 (seurabael).
Copyright(c) IBS. All Rights Reserved.
