What’s the difference between 여보세요 and 안녕하세요

안녕하세요^^ Koreanstudyjunkie입니당~ I’ll make this a very quick explanation.

여보세요

→ Used as “hello” when answering the phone.

This phrase is also used in a couple other situations. Let’s picture it’s dark and you are walking home at night. You hear a noise, so you turn around and say “여보세요?!“ In this situation you can’t see anyone. Another situational example, you walk into your friend’s house and don’t see anyone - you can also call out “여보세요?”. In these situations, you can think of it as “Is anyone there?”. So what’s the recurrent theme in each situation? You can’t see the other person.

안녕하세요

→ Used as “hello” in normal everyday greetings.

This phrase is usually not going to be used on the phone, but rather face to face in daily life. This greeting is pretty formal, so you’ll use this with strangers, people of a higher social status than you, those who are older than you, and generally just in formal settings (wedding, classroom, workplace, etc.).

The next lesson will be:

What about when Koreans say “오서 오세요”

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