Learn Korean Online - Simple Explanations in PLAIN English

Hey Galinaros,

Yeah, hello is just the contextual translation ’cause that’s how people greet each other, where we would say hello. But the actual translation of ‘안녕’ is peace, tranquility, good health, well-being, and as a verb (with the ~하다) ending, it translates as ‘to be well’ or ‘to be in good health’.

So the greetings are actually questions with the basic meaning of “Are you well?”

It’s actually funny, something that takes a bit of getting used to, ’cause most people just learn it means hello, and so a lot of times when you say it to someone, they respond with a ‘예’ meaning ‘yes’.

A short example dialogue to show you what I mean…

A: Hello.
B. Yes.
A. Huh?…

So yeah, it is actually a question, but contextually just used as hello.

Cheers…

Hi,

There are a couple slightly different ways to say goodbye, depending on if you’re the person staying (and the other person is leaving) or you’re the person leaving (and the other person is staying).

If you’re the person leaving, it’s 안녕히 게세요
If you’re the person staying, you can say 안녕히 가세요 (you can also say 잘가(요) – “Go well.”)

However, that can all be a bit confusing and hinder your fluency when trying to speak so I’m going to give you a tip – the exact way I do it. I NEVER differentiate between hello (안녕하세요) or goodbye. Say them quick enough (almost slurring it all together) and they all sound basically the same. I’ve been using this technique in Korea for 6 years now and it is always fine, and actually, the day I started doing it, I started getting compliments on how well I spoke (even though I’d only said “Hello”). Hope that helps!