Basic Korean Greetings: 안녕하세요 and the Formal Essentials

Basic Korean greetings start with 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo), the all-purpose formal hello — but goodbye splits in two: 안녕히 가세요 to the person leaving and 안녕히 계세요 to the person staying. This lesson gives you the nine formal phrases every beginner needs, plus your first real sentence pattern, 입니다. If the Korean script still looks like shapes, detour to Lesson 1: Hangul first — everything here is readable with what you learned there.

The nine phrases you cannot skip

These are the highest-frequency words in the entire language. Koreans will forgive almost any grammar mistake if you deploy these nine confidently and at the right moment.

A small pronunciation payoff from Lesson 2: in 감사합니다 and 반갑습니다, the batchim ㅂ slams into ㄴ and nasalizes — you hear ham-ni-da and seum-ni-da, never hap-ni-da. Korean spelling shows the grammar; your mouth follows the sound rules.

Who leaves, who stays: the goodbye rule

English speakers say goodbye symmetrically; Korean does not. The question to ask yourself every single time is: who is walking away?

A memory trick: the goodbye describes what the OTHER person is about to do. They go → 가세요. They stay → 계세요. Get this right on your first day in Korea and you will earn genuinely surprised compliments.

Your first grammar: N입니다

Korean politeness lives in verb endings, and 입니다 is the most formal everyday ending — the one you hear in news broadcasts, airport announcements, and self-introductions.

You do not need to conjugate anything yet. Noun + 입니다, noun + 입니까 — that is a complete, polished Korean sentence.

A first meeting, start to finish

Here is the whole lesson compressed into one realistic exchange — meeting a Korean acquaintance for the first time, then excusing yourself.

Notice the goodbye pair landing exactly as the rule predicts: the leaver says 계세요 to the stayer, the stayer says 가세요 to the leaver. Two different sentences, one goodbye.

Bow small, greet often

Greetings in Korea come with a slight bow — a relaxed 15-degree nod for everyday situations, deeper for formal ones. Say 안녕하세요 to shop staff when you walk in, to your building’s security guard, to your teacher every single class. Frequency matters more than perfection; greeting first is read as warmth, not awkwardness. One caution: everything in this lesson is the formal core, safe with absolutely anyone. The casual layer friends actually text each other — 안녕, 잘 가, and the famous “did you eat?” greeting — works differently, and we cover it in the expansion pack Korean greetings beyond 안녕하세요. Learn the formal set first; you can never offend anyone with it.

FAQ

What is the real difference between 안녕히 가세요 and 안녕히 계세요? 가세요 comes from 가다 (to go) and is said to the person leaving; 계세요 comes from 계시다 (to stay) and is said to the person staying behind. If both of you are leaving — say, walking out of a café together — you both say 안녕히 가세요.

Does 안녕하세요 work at any time of day? Yes. Everyday Korean has no separate good morning, good afternoon, or good evening — 안녕하세요 covers them all. You may hear 좋은 아침 (good morning) in some offices, but it is optional and slightly trendy.

Can I greet friends with just 안녕? Only with people you are close to who are your age or younger — 안녕 is intimate casual speech. With strangers, staff, teachers, or anyone older, stick to 안녕하세요. The casual layer gets its own lesson in our greetings expansion pack.

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Next: introduce yourself in Korean — 저는 ~입니다. Previous: batchim, the final consonants. Full path: curriculum hub.