Polite phrases for daily life

Sorry — it’s okay

This is a two-line exchange. 죄송합니다 is “I’m sorry”. Like 감사합니다, it is a fixed formal phrase with the 합니다 ending, said 죄송함니다. Because the endings match, the two are easy to mix up by ear. Listen to the first two blocks.

The reply is 괜찮아요, “it’s okay”. It is said 괜차나요: the block 찮 has two letters at the bottom, and the ㅎ is not heard. You will also use this phrase to say “I’m fine” or to turn down an offer politely.

A block with two bottom letters is new. For now, learn this phrase by its sound.

Thank you — not at all

When someone thanks you, the usual answer is 아니에요, “not at all”. Literally it says “it is not”, in the sense of “it was nothing”.

Look closely, because you know a word that is one block shorter: 아니요 is “no”, the answer to a question. 아니에요 has an extra 에 in the middle. Answering thanks with 아니요 would sound like a flat “No.”

Getting attention, asking for a moment

English “excuse me” does several jobs. Korean splits them up. 저기요 calls someone: a waiter, a shop assistant, a stranger who has dropped something. It is not an apology.

잠시만요 means “just a moment”. Say it when you need someone to wait. Say it too when you squeeze past people on a bus or need to get through a crowd, where English would use “excuse me”.

… please

Read the two requests: 물 주세요, 커피 주세요. The thing you want comes first, and 주세요 comes last. It means “please give (me)”, and the phrase works anywhere you ask for something: restaurants, shops, ticket counters.

The order is the one from the last lesson, thing and then action. You might expect 물을 with the object marker. That is correct too, but in a short spoken request the marker is normally left out.

Before the meal, after the meal

Koreans say a set phrase at each end of a meal, to whoever cooked or paid, or simply to the table. Before eating: 잘 먹겠습니다. After eating: 잘 먹었습니다.

Both are fixed formal phrases, and only one block differs: 겠 before, 었 after. Learn them whole and do not take them apart yet. You can hear the difference. The first is said 먹껟씀니다, with a hard k sound in the middle. The second is said 머걷씀니다, with a soft g.

I see — I don’t know

Here are two phrases for any conversation in which you are the learner. 알겠어요 means “I see” or “understood”. Say it when something has been explained to you or when you are asked to do something.

모르겠어요 means “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure”. It is a soft, polite way to admit it. The two share the ending 겠어요, said 게써요, so tell them apart by the beginning: 알 against 모르.