So how would I respond when someone asks me how I’m doing? You can always remove it when speaking with friends. Some Koreans might want to give you food if you answer ‘no’ so be aware of that. To be more specific, it is an inquiry about your well-being, so in a sense, they are asking how you are. So while this does indeed translate to ‘did you eat yet?’ it is more like a greeting than anything else. bap (밥) means rice or food and meogeosseoyou (먹었어요) means ‘ate’ (eat, past tense). This one can be tricky at first if you are not familiar with Korean culture. This literally means ‘how have you been?’.īap meogeosseoyo? In Hangul: 밥 먹었어요? = Did you eat yet? (polite) So to make it more casual and friendly, you drop it. The ‘yo’ (요) at the end, again, makes it polite. This expression has the same meaning as the expressions mentioned above. Jal isseoseoyo? In Hangul: 잘 있었어요? = How are you? (polite) Close friends and people who are younger than you.So removing ‘yo’ (요) makes it more intimate and informal and more suitable for use with: Jal jinaess-eo? In Hangul: 잘 지냈어? = How are you? (close, informal)Īs you can see, the only difference between these two sentences is that ‘yo’ (요) is lacking in the second one. So what would you use when speaking to friends? With that said, most Koreans won’t expect foreigners to understand this kind of concept but you will most likely fail to make a good impression if you speak to them in ‘lower’ form, like you would to your friends. Unless you feel comfortable with your Korean and don’t want to offend anyone, this is what you should use. Bosses and people with higher status than you (age, rank etc).Someone who is similar age as you but not close friends.
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