One Korean greeting covers your whole day — morning, noon, and night. It's 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo), and unlike English, Korean doesn't split into 'good morning / good afternoon / good evening'. The catch, as always in Korean, is politeness. Say it too casually to an elder and it stings; say the formal version to a close friend and it sounds cold. There's also a hello that only works on the phone, and a goodbye trap that catches nearly every beginner. Here's how to get all of it right.
안녕하세요 / 안녕 / 안녕하십니까 — the levels
All three share the same core, 안녕 (annyeong), which means 'peace' or 'well-being' — so you're essentially asking whether the other person is at peace. The ending is what sets the politeness level.
- 안녕하세요annyeonghaseyo
Hello (standard polite)
Your default with almost anyone — strangers, coworkers, shopkeepers, elders.
- 안녕annyeong
Hi / Bye (casual / 반말)
Only with close friends, people younger, or kids. Doubles as a casual goodbye.
- 안녕하십니까annyeonghasimnikka
Hello (formal)
Job interviews, the military, news broadcasts, formal business announcements.
When in doubt, default to 안녕하세요. It's almost never wrong, and Koreans will happily forgive a foreigner who errs on the side of polite. Reach for 안녕 only once you're genuinely on casual terms.
여보세요 — the hello that only works on the phone
This one surprises learners. When you pick up a phone in Korea, you don't say 안녕하세요 — you say 여보세요 (yeoboseyo). It means 'hello?' in the 'anyone there?' sense, and it's strictly for calls. Saying it to someone standing in front of you would sound bizarre. So: 여보세요 on the phone, 안녕하세요 everywhere else.
- 여보세요yeoboseyo
Hello? (on the phone only)
Answering a call or checking the line. Never used face to face.
The goodbye trap: 가세요 vs 계세요
Korean's one quirk for goodbye: the word changes based on who's leaving. Tell the person walking away 안녕히 가세요 ('go in peace'), but if you're the one walking out, say 안녕히 계세요 (계세요 is the honorific of 있다, 'to be/stay' — so 'stay in peace'). When you both head off in different directions, you each say 안녕히 가세요. Our basic Korean greetings guide lays out the full goodbye set, casual forms included.
How to write 안녕하세요 in Hangul
'Hello' in Hangul is 안녕하세요 — five syllable blocks read left to right. Each block stacks its letters in the standard Hangul order. Here's the breakdown:
- 안an
ㅇ (silent) + ㅏ (a) + ㄴ (n)
ㅇ at the start is silent; the 받침 ㄴ closes the block with -n.
- 녕nyeong
ㄴ (n) + ㅕ (yeo) + ㅇ (ng)
받침 ㅇ gives the -ng sound.
- 하ha
ㅎ (h) + ㅏ (a)
Consonant left, vowel right.
- 세se
ㅅ (s) + ㅔ (e)
The -세요 ending is the polite request/greeting marker.
- 요yo
ㅇ (silent) + ㅛ (yo)
Put together: 안 + 녕 + 하 + 세 + 요 = 안녕하세요.
If those letters look unfamiliar, our guide to the Korean alphabet (Hangul) walks through every consonant and vowel, and how to write in Korean covers stroke order so your 안녕하세요 looks natural by hand.
A small bow goes a long way
In Korea, hello is half word, half gesture. A quick nod — really just tilting the head forward — naturally accompanies 안녕하세요 with elders, customers, or anyone you're meeting formally. It's not the deep, theatrical bow you might picture; the depth scales with how senior the person is. Among friends, skip it; a casual 안녕 with a wave is all you need.
Where to go from here
Hello is the doorway, not the whole house. Once 안녕하세요 feels natural, the next move is the follow-up — 'how are you?', 'thank you', 'nice to meet you' — and the instinct for when to soften from polite into casual. For the full everyday set, see our guide to basic Korean greetings, which rounds out hellos, goodbyes, and thank-yous in one place. To follow up a greeting naturally, learn how to say 'how are you' in Korean, and for the deeper logic of why politeness levels matter so much, read Korean honorifics explained. The best way to get the reflexes, though, is to actually use them — in our AI character chat, characters greet you at different politeness levels and respond naturally, so 안녕하세요 stops being a phrase you memorized and becomes one you just say.
Practice saying it for real
Try out 안녕하세요 and 안녕 in a real Korean conversation — chat with an AI character who greets you naturally and matches the right speech level.
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