How To Say Goodbye In Korean

In this lesson, you will learn how to say goodbye in Korean. Once you know how to say hello in Korean, it’s quite easy to learn how to say goodbye. In this lesson, you will learn the different ways to say goodbye in Korean.

Goodbye In Korean

To say goodbye in polite Korean there are two main expressions. These are 안녕히 가세요 [an-nyeong-hi ga-se-yo] and 안녕히 계세요 [an-nyeong-hi gye-se-yo]. The one you use depends on whether you or the other person is the one who is leaving. Let’s look at these ways to say goodbye in Korean more closely.

안녕히 가세요 [an-nyeong-hi ga-se-yo]

안녕히 가세요 is used when you are staying where you are and the other person is leaving. For example, imagine someone visits you at your home. When they leave you would say 안녕히 가세요 [an-nyeong-hi ga-se-yo].

안녕히 계세요 [an-nyeong-hi gye-se-yo]

안녕히 계세요 is used when you are leaving and the other person is staying. For example, imagine you go to a convenience store. When you leave, if you want to say goodbye to the clerk you would say 안녕히 계세요 [an-nyeong-hi gye-se-yo].

More Ways To Say Goodbye In Korean

There are several other ways to say goodbye in Korean, but the two ways to say goodbye mentioned above are used to say goodbye politely in most situations. Here are some other ways to say goodbye:

안녕 [an-nyeong] – With close friends and people younger than you you can use 안녕 as both hello and goodbye. Note, this is the informal way to say goodbye so it would be rude and impolite to use this to say goodbye to strangers and people older than you.

잘 가 [jal ga] / 잘 가요 [jal ga-yo] – 잘 가 is made up of the words 잘 (well) and 가 (go) and literally means ‘go well’. 잘 가 is the informal way. To make it polite, simply add 요 to make 잘 가요. 잘가 / 잘가요 can be used in casual situations.