Do Koreans Say ‘Good Morning’?

Many Korean language learners who live and work in Korean, or have Korean friends, want to know how to say good morning in Korean. In English, it is very common to say good morning to greet someone when you first see them at the start of the day. But do Koreans say good morning?

Although Koreans do sometimes say good morning, it is much more common to use a different expression to greet someone in the morning. It is much more common just to greet people with expressions such as ‘hello’ or to ask ‘Did you sleep well?’.

That being said, you can say good morning in Korean and it is a perfectly acceptable greeting in the morning. In this post, we will teach you how to say good morning in Korean and some other useful greetings that are more common when greeting someone in the morning.

Related: Korean Greetings And Introductions

Good Morning In Korean

There are several expressions that function as ‘good morning’ in Korean. Here are the different ways to say good morning in Korean, starting with the literal translation.

좋은 아침 [jo-eun a-chim]

Good morning in Korean is 좋은 아침 [jo-eun a-chim]. In this expression, 좋은 means ‘good’ and 아침 means ‘morning’. So, 좋은 아침 [jo-eun a-chim] literally means good morning in Korean.

좋은 아침이에요. [jo-eun a-chim-i-e-yo]

This next way to say good morning in Korean is 좋은 아침이에요 [jo-eun a-chim-i-e-yo]. As you can see, it is the same as 좋은 아침 (good morning) with 이에요 attached. 이에요 is an ending which roughly translates as ‘is’ in the sense of ‘is equals to’, and so 좋은 아침이에요 [jo-eun a-chim-i-e-yo] means ‘It’s a good morning.’

좋은 아침입니다. [jo-eun a-chim-im-ni-da]

좋은 아침입니다 [jo-eun a-chim-im-ni-da] is another way to say good morning in Korean. This time, 좋은 아침 (good morning) has 입니다 attached. 입니다 is a formal ending which, like 이에요, means ‘is’ in the sense of ‘is equals to’. And so, 좋은 아침입니다 [jo-eun a-chim-im-ni-da] also means ‘It’s a good morning.’.

More Common Ways To Say Good Morning In Korean

As was mentioned above, it is not very common for Koreans to say ‘good morning’ to greet someone in the morning. It is much more common to use one of the following expressions. These expressions can all ‘function’ as good morning in Korean.

안녕하세요? [an-nyeong-ha-se-yo]

안녕하세요 [an-nyeong-ha-se-yo] is the equivalent of ‘hello’ in Korean and it is common to simply great someone with 안녕하세요 when you see them in the morning. Learn more about how to say hello in Korean.

잘 잤어요? [ja ja-sseo-yo?]

The next expression that can function as ‘good morning’ in Korean is 잘 잤어요? [ja ja-sseo-yo?]. 잘 잤어요? is made up of the words 잘, which means ‘well’, and 잤어요 which is the past form of the verb 자다, which means to sleep. So, 잘 잤어요? [ja ja-sseo-yo?] means ‘Did you sleep well?’. You can say 잘 잤어요? [ja ja-sseo-yo?] in situations when you want to say good morning in Korean.

As you can see, 잘 잤어요? has 요 at the end, and so this expression is a polite expression. If you are speaking to someone who is much older than you, or in a ‘higher’ social position, such as your boss at work, you will likely want to use this next expression which is the formal way to say good morning in Korean.

잘 주무셨어요? [jal ju-mu-syeo-sseo-yo?]

잘 주무셨어요? [jal ju-mu-syeo-sseo-yo?] also means ‘Did you sleep well?’ and can be used in situations when you want to say ‘good morning’ in Korean. 잘 주무셨어요? [jal ju-mu-syeo-sseo-yo?] is a formal way to say good morning and so it can be used in formal situations, with people older than you, people in a ‘higher’ social position, or to people with which you want to show a lot of respect.

안녕히 주무셨어요? [an-nyeong-hi ju-mu-syeo-sseo-yo?]

안녕히 주무셨어요? [an-nyeong-hi ju-mu-syeo-sseo-yo?] means ‘Did you sleep peacefully?’ and is another formal way to say good morning in Korean.

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