Learn the key pattern to use basic greetings
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| Let's take a closer look at each of these expressions. |
| In the first conversation, do you remember how Mark says, |
| "Hello, teacher." |
| 선생님, 안녕하세요. (Seon-saeng-nim, an-nyeong-ha-se-yo.) |
| First is 선생 (seon-saeng), "teacher." 선생 . 선생. |
| After this is the honorific suffix 님 (nim). It is used to address people of higher social status. It can be attached to the name or occupation of the person. 님(read slowly). 님. |
| Together, 선생님 is a common and polite way to address, "teacher," but in more natural English, "Ms. Sim,"" the teacher's last name. 선생님. |
| Note, in Korean, it is common to address people by title plus honorific suffix rather than their name, such as 선생님"teacher," like in the dialogue, and 사장님 (sa-jang-nim) "boss/president." |
| Next is 안녕하세요, "hello." 안녕하세요. 안녕하세요. |
| Note, 안녕하세요 is from the verb 안녕하다 (an-nyeong-ha-da) meaning, "to be peaceful, well." 안녕하다 |
| Literally, 안녕하세요 means something like "be well," or "Please be well." |
| Note: 안녕하세요 is the most common greeting in Korean and can be used at all times of the day. It can translate as "hello," "good morning," "good afternoon, etc," depending on the context. You can use this phrase with someone who you are familiar with or unfamiliar with and at all speech levels. |
| All together, 선생님, 안녕하세요. (Seon-saeng-nim, an-nyeong-ha-se-yo.), literally "Teacher, hello," and in more natural English, "Hello, Ms. Sim." |
| 선생님 안녕하세요. (Seon-saeng-nim, an-nyeong-ha-se-yo.) |
| Do you remember the teacher's response, |
| "Hello, Mark." |
| 마크 씨, 안녕하세요. (Ma-keu ssi, an-nyeong-ha-se-yo.) |
| There are two parts to this response. |
| First is 마크 씨, meaning "Mark." 마크 씨 |
| This starts with Mark's name in Korean, "마크." 마크 . 마크. |
| After this is 씨(ssi), a polite suffix attached to a person's name. 씨 . 씨 |
| 씨 is commonly used among people of equal social status, age or position. |
| This suffix can be used with any gender, and can be attached to a person's given name or their full name, but not the last name alone. |
| Together, 마크 씨, "Mark." 마크 씨. |
| Next is 안녕하세요, "hello." 안녕하세요 . 안녕하세요. |
| All together it's 마크 씨, 안녕하세요. (Ma-keu ssi, an-nyeong-ha-se-yo.), literally "Mark, hello," but in more natural English, "Hello, Mark." |
| 마크 씨, 안녕하세요. |
| In the second conversation, which takes place at noon, do you remember how Karen says, |
| "Hello"? |
| Hint: It's the same greeting as the one used in the morning. |
| 안녕하세요. (An-nyeong-ha-se-yo.) |
| Note that Karen uses only the greeting without the "teacher" title. It's perfectly acceptable to greet a teacher in this way. |
| 안녕하세요, "hello." 안녕하세요. |
| Seon-yeong's response is the same, "Hello." |
| 안녕하세요. (An-nyeong-ha-se-yo.) |
| In the third conversation, which takes place in the evening at 6pm, do you remember how Ben says, "Hello, teacher"? |
| Hint: you've heard it before. |
| 선생님, 안녕하세요. (Seon-saeng-nim, an-nyeong-ha-se-yo.) |
| Do you remember how the teacher says, |
| "Hi, Ben." |
| 벤, 안녕. (Ben, an-nyeong.) |
| There are two parts to this response. |
| First is Ben's name in Korean, 벤. 벤. . 벤. |
| Note: there is no honorific suffix after Ben's name. Here Ben is still a student and this is a private lesson, so the teacher chooses to address Ben casually by omitting the honorific suffix and simply saying Ben's name. |
| Next is 안녕, "Hi." 안녕. 안녕. |
| Note: 안녕 is an informal way to say "hello," and it's used in informal situations, and can be used by people of relative higher social status towards people of lower social status. However, it should not be used the other way around. |
| 안녕(an-nyeong), which literally means "being well," is used to mean "Hi," or "Hello." It's a versatile phrase that can be used when greeting people in the morning, afternoon, evening or night. |
| All together, it's 벤, 안녕. (Ben, an-nyeong.), "Ben, hi," but in more natural English, "Hi, Ben." |
| 벤, 안녕. (Ben, an-nyeong.) |
| Unlike other languages such as English or Japanese, where there are specific phrases used during different times of the day, Korean uses the same phrase at various times of the day. |
| The phrase you use will depend on the speaker's relationship with the listener. |
| The most common greeting, which can be used in formal and informal situations is 안녕하세요(an-nyeong-ha-se-yo). |
| This is appropriate for almost all situations and should be your default greeting as a new learner. You can use it when speaking with people older than you, coworkers, and so on. |
| In informal situations, or when speaking to someone who is in a less senior social position than yourself, you can also use 안녕(an-nyeong). |
| Just remember that if you want to play it safe, 안녕하세요(an-nyeong-ha-se-yo) is the best option, as it's polite enough to address people of higher social status as well as people who are of lower social status. |
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