There are many reasons why a person may learn Korean. Some people learn for enjoyment. Others learn so that they have the ability to communicate with Korean people. Since you have learned the basics of Hangul in the previous lessons, you now have to combine your skills to form words and sentences. Today’s lesson will be about Korean Greetings. In the everyday world of Korea, people greet each other. Just like people around you, they say hello and goodbye in their own language.
Hello and goodbye are both Romanized as “Annyeong”. In Hangul, it is written as “안녕.” To break it up, -안: “an” -녕: ”nyeong” ***If you do not clearly understand, you should go back to the Hangul Lessons.***
There are also formal and informal ways to say hello. Like English, we usually say “Hi” to our peers and “Hello” to our elders. Informal: 안녕- “an-nyeong” (To people the same age or younger than you) Formal: 안녕하세요- “an-nyeong-ha-se-yo” (To people older than you- Parents, grandparents, etc) The ending, “하세요” (-ha-se-yo) is used when speaking in a formal tone of language.
When saying goodbye in Korean, there are also formal and informal variations. Informal: 안녕- “an-nyeong” (To people the same age or younger than you) Formal: 안녕히가세요- “an-nyeong-hee-ga-se-yo” (When the older person is leaving) Formal: 안녕히계세요- “an-nyeong-hee-gye-se-yo” (When you are the one leaving) ***If you do not use these words to your elders when in Korea, you can be in BIG trouble!***