Greetings
Greet someone, respond when meeting them for the first time, and say goodbye correctly whether you're the one leaving or staying.
해요체: the always-safe polite style
Korean has several speech levels, but Level 1 sticks to one: 해요체. It's the polite-but-friendly style Koreans use with strangers, coworkers, service staff, and even close friends — safe in almost any situation. You'll recognize it by endings like -아요/어요/여요, exactly what 안녕하세요 and 반가워요 end in. There's a more formal register (합쇼체, like 감사합니다) and a casual one (반말, for close friends only) — you'll meet both later, but for now 해요체 will never sound rude or too casual.
The all-purpose greeting — works as 'hello,' 'good morning,' or 'good afternoon,' any time of day. It's written as five separate syllables, but Koreans say it in one smooth breath: [안녕하세요]. Same idea as the linking and nasal sounds you trained your ear on in L0 — spoken Korean flows together, not syllable by syllable.
Say this right after 안녕하세요 when you meet someone for the first time — literally 'meeting [you], [I'm] glad.' It's only for first meetings, not for greeting someone you already know.
안녕히 가세요 vs 안녕히 계세요: who's staying?
Both phrases mean roughly 'goodbye,' but Korean makes you specify who is moving. 안녕히 가세요 ('go in peace') is said TO the person who is leaving. 안녕히 계세요 ('stay in peace') is said TO the person who is staying behind. So if you leave a friend's house, you say 안녕히 계세요 to your friend, who stays — and your friend says 안녕히 가세요 back to you, who goes. Mixing these up is the single most common beginner slip, so it's worth locking in now.
Say this to someone who is leaving — a customer walking out of a shop, a friend heading home while you stay put.
Say this to someone who is staying — you're the one leaving, like when you exit a shop and the clerk stays behind the counter.
Meeting someone for the first time at a café
Say it out loud
Listen, then repeat aloud. Matching the rhythm matters more than perfection.