Korean Greetings Beyond Hello: Phrases for Different Situations

안녕하세요 will carry a hallway, a classroom, and a shop counter. It will not carry a first introduction, a ringing phone, or the door of a shop from the staff side. Those jobs have their own lines.

First meeting

처음 뵙겠습니다.
cheoeum boepgetseumnida — How do you do.

This is 합니다체, and it is for the first time only. 뵙다 is the humble verb for seeing someone. The next meeting goes back to 안녕하세요.

만나서 반가워요.
mannaseo bangawoyo — Nice to meet you.

만나서 is 만나다 plus -아서/어서. Gladness takes that link, the way thanks and apologies do. 반갑다 is ㅂ-irregular, so the 해요체 form is 반가워요, not 반갑아요. A classmate gets this line. A formal room gets 만나서 반갑습니다.

The phone

여보세요.
yeoboseyo

You say this when the voice on the line is not yet a person you can name. If you already know who is calling, 네 or 안녕하세요 is enough. 여보세요 aimed at a face in the room sounds like you are checking whether the line is dead.

Hanging up can be 끊을게요 — a promise to the person still on the line. Going-home closes such as 들어가세요 live on the goodbye page, not here.

The shop

Staff say 어서 오세요 as you come in. That -(으)세요 is their invitation, not yours. You answer 안녕하세요. Saying 어서 오세요 back tells the baker to enter their own shop.

On the way out they may add 또 오세요 or 다음에 또 오세요. Your leaving line is the staying/going split: 안녕히 가세요 vs 계세요. 다음에 봐요 is a third close, for someone you will see again, and it does not ask who is moving.

A returning greeting can be 잘 지내셨어요? once you already know the person. That is not a first meeting, and it is not a shop door. Save 처음 뵙겠습니다 for the first time; save 여보세요 for the unknown voice.

Morning does not demand a new greeting. 안녕하세요 still works at 8 a.m. The extra lines on this page are for first meetings, phones, and shop doors — not for inventing a Korean “good morning.”