Basic Korean Phrases | Any Tips?

Korean 한국어
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I’m hoping to improve my Korean this year.

Does anyone have a list of maybe 5 useful Korean phrases that help foreigners in many daily situations?

I’ve learnt how to read Hangeul and I know some basics, but I’d love to get some further insight from people who speak some Korean :slight_smile:

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In my experience, these are my most useful phrases:

:one: 이거 주세요 (igeo juseyo) – “This, please.” - Super useful in shops or restaurants when pointing at something you want to buy or order. Or you can just use “noun + 주세요”

:two: 이거 얼마예요? (igeo eolmayeyo?) – “How much is this?” (of course you’ll need to know your numbers too!)

:three: 화장실 어디에 있어요? (hwajangsil eodie isseoyo?) – “Where is the bathroom?”

Also try to learn some directional phrases early on. The Seoul metro can be a challenge to navigate initially, so being able to ask for directions helps a LOT and is something I wish I’d picked up before my first trip to Korea!

This post might be helpful in teaching you some Korean language essentials:

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This one is suuuuper useful, I would use it every day especially when ordering coffee or lunch! The basics for me were:

안녕하세요 - hello
감사하다 - thank you

I think it is also important to learn to recognise sentences that might be said to you:

잠시만요 - wait a moment
어서오세요 - welcome (when entering a shop, restaurant)
포장 - take out (food, coffee)

I do not speak Korean so this is only what I can remember :sob: but if someone could translate sentences like the following that would be nice! Like not to get too confused at the shop for example:

  • Do you need a bag?
  • Do you have the membership?
  • Do you need a receipt
  • For here or take out?
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Nice, thanks for these @Marine and @Hannah - already used a few of this multiple times!

Let’s see how we go :smiley:

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That’s amazing you know and remember these ones when you don’t even speak the language Marine!!!
For the ones you asked, I hope it’s gonna be helpful:

  • Do you need a bag?: 봉투는 필요하실까요?/ 봉투 필요하세요? (봉투: bag or they even use Konglish 쇼핑백 shopping bag for this at some place)
  • Do you have the membership?: 적립하세요?/ 적립 도와 드릴까요?/ ㅇㅇ멤버십 있으신가요?
  • Do you need a receipt?: 영수증 필요하세요?
  • For here or take our?: 드시고 가세요? (means: Are you gonna have the food here?, you can either say 네 먹고 갈게요 Yes, I will have the food here or 아니요 포장해주세요 Nope, I’m gonna do take out)
    Hope this will be helpful :slight_smile:
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Super useful for a fellow beginner :slight_smile:

Last one especially. I will practice using it in the coming weeks :smiley:

1 Like
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I learnt a good one in my class yesterday

추천 해 주세요

chucheon hae juseyo

It means “please recommend something”. I used this phrase in nearly every Japanese restaurant in Japan (おすすめ が ありますか) and it was an absolute godsend when you don’t really know much about the menu!

It can be used in many contexts too. Just add a noun before 추천 해 주세요 and you can expand it.

EXAMPLE

Can you recommend a type of Kimchi?

김치 추천 해 주세요

New level unlocked for me!

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