Greetings in Korean: hello, two ways to say goodbye and speech levels

안녕: the word inside most Korean greetings

안녕 is a Sino-Korean word, 安寧, made of two characters that both mean calm or peace. As a noun it means peace and well-being; with 하다 it becomes the adjective 안녕하다, to be well. 안녕하세요 is therefore a question at heart, are you well?, and Wiktionary glosses it both as hello and as how are you. It does not change with the clock: the same 안녕하세요 serves at eight in the morning and at ten at night.

The character pair has a small spelling story of its own. The second character, 寧, is read 녕 in 안녕 but 령 in place names such as 의령 and 회령, and article 52 of the Hangul Orthography, issued by the National Institute of Korean Language, lists exactly these words as its example of one character with two readings, each written as spoken.

The adverb 안녕히, peacefully, carries the two goodbyes. Literally, 안녕히 가세요 is go in peace and 안녕히 계세요 stay in peace. Both end in the polite honorific -세요.

Speech levels: how formal a greeting in Korean should be

Korean grammar marks politeness on the verb ending, and greetings show it most clearly. Wikipedia's article on Korean speech levels describes seven levels; three of them cover nearly every greeting a visitor will hear.

The formal level, 하십시오체, ends in -ㅂ니다 for statements and -ㅂ니까 for questions. It belongs to strangers at the start of a conversation, colleagues in formal settings, television announcers and staff speaking to customers. 안녕하십니까 and 감사합니다 are its greetings.

The polite level, 해요체, ends in -요. It is softer but still respectful, used with strangers who are older or the same age and with colleagues, and it is the level phrasebooks teach. 안녕하세요, 안녕히 가세요 and 반가워요 belong here.

The casual level, 해체, drops the ending. Close friends, siblings and adults talking to children use it: 안녕 for hi and bye, 잘 자 for good night. Between strangers the polite -요 level is the safe default, since the casual forms are defined by closeness.

The two goodbyes: who leaves and who stays

English has one goodbye; Korean has two, and the choice depends on movement. The person who stays behind says 안녕히 가세요, go in peace, to the one leaving. The person leaving says 안녕히 계세요, stay in peace, to the one who remains. A shopkeeper says 안녕히 가세요 to a customer at the door, and the customer answers 안녕히 계세요.

Among friends the casual farewell is 잘 가, go well, which Wiktionary marks as informal; its counterpart for the one staying is 잘 있어, built on 있다, to stay.

Leaving the office before a superior is a case of its own. Asked whether 안녕히 계세요 is wrong there, the National Institute of Korean Language answered on its online question board that no greeting is grammatically fixed for leaving work, and, drawing on its guide to standard language etiquette, suggested 먼저 가겠습니다, I will go first, or 내일 뵙겠습니다, see you tomorrow.

First meetings, thanks and the telephone

A first meeting has its own formula. 처음 뵙겠습니다 means, word for word, seeing you for the first time, with the humble verb 뵙다 lowering the speaker before the listener. It is said once, on introduction, and often followed by 만나서 반갑습니다, glad to meet you, from the adjective 반갑다, glad or welcome. The polite form 반가워요 is lighter and common between people of similar age.

Korean has two words for thank you, and Wiktionary calls them generally interchangeable. 감사합니다 is built on Sino-Korean 감사, 感謝; 고맙습니다 comes from the native adjective 고맙다. Both are at the formal level; Wiktionary lists 고마워요 as the less formal synonym and 감사드립니다 as an extremely respectful one.

The telephone has a greeting nothing else uses. 여보세요 comes from 여기, here, and 보다, to look: literally look here. It opens almost every phone call, from either side, and it also serves to catch the attention of someone who seems not to be listening.