안녕하세요? – How To Say Good Morning in Korean

Good Morning in Korean

In this lesson you will learn how to say good morning in Korean. You might have heard or read it before, but the way you would say good morning in Korean is, believe it or not, the same as how you would say hello. This is because, unlike many other languages, the way to greet someone in Korean is the same no matter the time of day. In other words, to say ‘good morning’,  you would, in most cases, say: annyeong haseyo (in Hangul: 안녕하세요).

If you’re not familiar with it already or if you want to refresh your memory, you might want to check out our previous article on how to say hello in Korean. I would strongly recommend you to read through that if you want to learn about the different politeness levels, which can be a bit tricky, especially for beginners. If you’re not looking for a deeper understanding of the Korean language or are unsure which phrase to use, just use the phrase above and you won’t run the risk of sounding awkward or insulting anyone.

What about ‘joheun achim‘ (좋은 아침)?

Technically, ‘good morning’ literally translates to joheun achim (좋은 아침), where ‘joh-eun’ (좋은) means ‘good’ and ‘a-chim’ (아침) represents the Korean word for ‘morning.’ If you search around the web, or if you use an online translator, you might stumble upon this phrase every now and then. While it is correct and you might occassionally hear Koreans use this, the word we learned for ‘Hello’ (‘annyeong (haseyo)’ 안녕(하세요)) is just simply used much, much more often.

In other words: To say good morning in Korean, you should first and foremost learn and use ‘annyeong haseyo‘ (안녕하세요).

While I don’t recommend using ‘joheun achim,’ it never hurts to know how about the different variations in regards to formality and politeness. So class, please pay attention.

joheun achim (좋은 아침) has a rather informal nuance to it, making it suitable to use with:

• close friends
• siblings
• people who are clearly younger than you

With other people (and especially if you are unsure) you should use:

By adding ‘i-e-yo’ (이에요) at the end, we have made the phrase more polite and proper to use with older people and with those with whom you’re not that close.

‘Good Morning’ Written Phonetically in Hangul

If you can read Korean, you will find that young Koreans often like to write the English word ‘good morning’ phonetically using Hangul (the Korean alphabet). It looks like this: 굿모닝. Feel free to use it when you text your friends and so on, but please keep in mind that this is of course considered informal and not exactly “true” Korean.

 
For more common words and phrases, please check out our Everyday Korean lessons!

You might also want to check out our lesson on the Korean way to say Good Night.

Please like or share if you found this lesson useful. And if you have any questions or something else on your mind, make sure to let us know by leaving a comment below and we will do our best to help you out!