Do you have Korean colleagues or friends and are interested in learning how to greet someone in Korean? Maybe you see people in your office, at a Korean restaurant, or other locations and always wondered what is the right thing to say? We’ve put together a basic description of how to greet someone in the Korean language. There are of course many ways of saying your name and introducing people but the key phrase to learn is “Annyeong haseyo”.
Please read further for a full description of how to introduce yourself:
Key Dialog for Introducing Yourself:
| A. 안녕하세요? (Annyeong haseyo?) |
How do you do? |
| B. 안녕하세요? 저는 크리스예요. (Annyeong haseyo? Jeoneun Chris yeyo.) |
How do you do? I’m Chris. |
| A. 안녕하세요 크리스씨. 저는 재민이예요. (Annyeong haseyo Chrisshi. Jeoneun Jaemin iyeyo.) |
How do you do Chris? I’m Jaemin. |
| B. 만나서 반가워요. (Mannaseo bangaweoyo.) |
Nice to meet you. |
Flashcards and Pronunciation of the Dialog:
https://quizlet.com/607270048/introducing-yourself-in-korean-flash-cards/
Explanation of Vocabulary and Phrases:
Annyeong haseyo – Means “nice to meet you”, “good to see you” “hello” and other translated English phrases. Basically, if you’re either meeting someone for the first time or seeing someone on a regular basis, you can say this phrase.
Jeoneun – This phrase in this context literally means “I am.” The speaker uses it to introduce his name, so he says “I am Chris.” Jeo – means I, and neun is a particle that means “is”.
This classic sentence structure can be used in a lot of different situations, for example “I am a student.” “I am sleepy”, etc would all use “Jeo neun” plus iyeoyo or yeyo.
Please also read iyeyo and yeyo.
“Shi” from Annyeong haseyo Chrisshi – In Korean, you will use “shi” when addressing someone. You can say this to your supervisor, friend, etc. Always be sure to use their first name, such as in this instance “Chris”. You could also say the full name, for example “Chris Kim.”
Iyeyo and Yeyo – This is part of almost every Korean sentence that is the basic form of “it is”. To have a better understanding of what the ending means, in the current sentence:
Jeoneun Jaemin iyeyo
Actually, you can omit the “Jeoneun.” The “Jeoneun” introduces the subject, “I”, but you do definitely need the “iyeyo.” Iyeyo literally means “it is”, but in this sentence:
Jaemin iyeyo
This also means “I am Jaemin.” You’re implying the subject is “I” with Jaemin Iyeyo, where as with the “Jeo neun Jaemin Iyeyo” you’re specifying the subject is I.
Iyeyo is used for terms that end with a consonant, and yeyo is used for terms that end with a vowel. You add the “i” in iyeyo to terms that end with a consonant because there’s literally a “vowel missing.” Since Chris ends with a vowel, you use yeyo, where Jaemin ends with a consonant you use iyeyo.
Thank you for reading our article on how to introduce yourself in Korean. We hope that you continue to learn the Korean language either through other resources on our website, taking a class for learning Korean, or just continuing your self study. Stay tuned for further articles on Korean!