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Welcome — this Korean Greetings Guide: 20 Ways to Say Hello and Goodbye is the perfect starting point if you have never studied a single word of Korean in your life. Greetings are the front door of any language. Master them first, and every conversation you ever have in Korean will begin with confidence. The great news? Korean greetings follow clear, logical patterns — and once you learn a handful of them, you will notice they recycle the same building blocks over and over again.

Before we dive in, let’s talk about the Korean writing system for just a moment. Korean uses an alphabet called Hangul (한글), which was invented in 1443 by King Sejong the Great specifically to be easy to learn. Each character you see is not a complex symbol — it is a combination of simple shapes representing individual sounds, much like letters in English. You do not need to be able to write Hangul perfectly today, but throughout this guide, every Korean phrase will be shown in Hangul alongside a romanization (the sounds written in English letters) and a phonetic pronunciation guide so you can start speaking immediately.

One more thing before we begin: Korean is a language that takes social context seriously. Whether you are speaking to a close friend, a stranger on the street, or your boss matters enormously — and that is reflected directly in how you say hello and goodbye. This guide will walk you through formal, informal, and casual greetings so you always know exactly which one to use and why. Let’s go!

The Most Important Korean Greeting — Your First Hello

The single most important Korean greeting you will ever learn is 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo) [ahn-NYUNG-ha-seh-yo] — “Hello / How are you?” This is your all-purpose, go-everywhere, safe-in-every-situation greeting. Use it with strangers, shop owners, teachers, coworkers — basically anyone you are not extremely close friends with. It is polite without being stiff, and every Korean person will appreciate hearing it from you.

Let’s break the sounds down so you can say this perfectly. The “ahn” sounds exactly like the English word “on” with a slight “ah” at the front. The “NYUNG” is the stressed syllable — think of saying “young” but start it with an “n.” The “ha-seh-yo” flows like “ha-say-yo.” Put it together slowly: ahn… NYUNG… ha… seh… yo. Now speed it up. You’ve got it. Hearing a foreigner say this correctly will genuinely make a Korean person light up with delight.

Formal Korean Greetings — When Politeness Matters Most

Korean has a built-in system of speech levels called 존댓말 (jondaetmal) [jon-DAET-mal] — “formal/polite speech.” When you are meeting someone for the first time, speaking to someone older than you, or in a professional setting, you always use formal greetings. Think of it as the difference between walking into a job interview and saying “Hey!” versus “Good morning.” Both are valid — but context determines which is right. Here are the essential formal Korean hello and goodbye phrases you need to know.

Pay special attention to those two goodbye phrases — this is something English does not do at all, and it trips up beginners constantly. In Korean, the way you say goodbye depends on whether you are the one walking away or the one staying put. 안녕히 가세요 (annyeonghi gaseyo) [ahn-NYUNG-hee GA-seh-yo] — “Please go in peace” is said by the person who stays. 안녕히 계세요 (annyeonghi gyeseyo) [ahn-NYUNG-hee GYEH-seh-yo] — “Please stay in peace” is said by the person who leaves. A simple memory trick: 가 (ga) means “go” — so if they go, you say ga. 계 (gye) means “stay” — so if you go, you wish them to stay peacefully.

Casual Korean Greetings — What Friends Actually Say

Once you are close with someone — a friend your own age, a younger sibling, or someone who has explicitly invited informal speech — you switch to 반말 (banmal) [BAN-mal] — “casual speech.” These are the greetings you will hear constantly in Korean dramas, K-pop interviews, and everyday friend groups. They are shorter, snappier, and honestly a lot of fun to say.

Learning how to write your name in Korean — Hangul transliteration is one of the most exciting first steps you can take on your Korean language journey, and it is a lot more achievable than you might think. Unlike Chinese characters, which can take years to master, Hangul — the Korean alphabet — was specifically designed in 1443 by King Sejong to be easy for everyone to learn. In fact, most people can read and write basic Hangul sounds within a single afternoon of focused practice.

When Korean speakers meet a foreigner, one of the first things they love to do is write that person’s name in Hangul. It is a warm, personal gesture — and when you can do it yourself, the reaction you get is priceless. Your name becomes something beautiful and new, a bridge between your world and Korea’s rich culture. This guide is going to walk you through exactly how that works, step by step, starting from absolute zero.

Do not worry if you have never seen a single Korean character before. That is completely fine. By the end of this Hangul transliteration guide, you will understand how Korean sounds are built, how to match them to the sounds in your own name, and how to write your name in Korean with real confidence. Let’s begin.

What Is Hangul? The Korean Alphabet Explained for Absolute Beginners

Hangul — written as 한글 (hangeul) [HAN-geul] — “the Korean alphabet” — is not a set of pictures or symbols representing whole words. It is a true alphabet, just like English, made up of individual letters that represent individual sounds. The genius of Hangul is that each letter is grouped into a block that forms one syllable. So instead of writing letters in a line like E-N-G-L-I-S-H, Korean stacks its letters into neat square blocks. For example, the syllable “han” is written as one block: 한. Inside that block are three letters: ㅎ (h) + ㅏ (a) + ㄴ (n) — stacked together elegantly. Once you see this system, you cannot unsee it, and writing your name in Korean suddenly looks very doable.

The Building Blocks — Korean Consonants and Vowels You Need

To write your name in Korean using Hangul transliteration, you only need to know a small set of consonants and vowels. Every Korean syllable block follows a simple formula: Consonant + Vowel (+ optional final consonant). Think of it like building with LEGO — you snap the pieces together. Here are the most essential Hangul letters for writing foreign names:

The Silent Consonant ㅇ — The Most Important Rule for Writing Your Name

Here is a rule that surprises almost every beginner: in Korean, a vowel cannot stand alone in a syllable block — it always needs a consonant partner. So what happens when your name starts with a vowel sound, like “Amy” or “Eric”? Korean uses a special placeholder consonant called ㅇ (ieung) [EENG] — “silent consonant / placeholder.” When ㅇ appears at the beginning of a syllable block, it makes no sound at all. It is simply a visual seat-holder for the vowel. So “Amy” becomes 에이미 (e-i-mi) [EH-ee-mee] — “Amy in Korean.” The ㅇ at the start of 에 is completely silent. However — and this is important — when ㅇ appears at the bottom of a syllable block, it makes an “ng” sound, like the end of “sing.”

How to Transliterate Your Name — The Step-by-Step Method

Writing your name in Korean using Hangul transliteration is a three-step process. Step 1: Break your name into syllables as you pronounce them in English — not as they are spelled. For example, “Michael” is pronounced MY-kul, so you work with those sounds: my + keol. Step 2: Match each sound to its closest Korean consonant and vowel. Korean does not have all English sounds — there is no exact “v,” “f,” or “th” — so you choose the closest available Korean sound. “F” becomes ㅍ (p/f sound), and “v” becomes ㅂ (b/v sound). Step 3: Stack each consonant-vowel pair into a block and line the blocks up. Let’s see this in action with real names.

Step 3 — The 14 Basic Korean Consonants

Now for the consonants — the building blocks that give each syllable its starting sound. Here’s something that blew my mind when I first studied Hangul: many consonant shapes were literally designed to look like the part of your mouth that makes the sound. The letter ㄴ (n) looks like your tongue touching the roof of your mouth. Genius, right? Let’s cover the most essential ones you need to start reading Korean today.