6 ways to say I miss you in Korean, from 보고 싶어요 to 그리워요
Ask a Korean how to say I miss you and the answer is 보고 싶어요, which word for word is "I want to see you". That one detail explains a lot: missing someone in Korean is less a feeling you describe than a meeting you want, and most of the variations below are built around seeing, coming and arriving.
The six phrases use polite 요 speech unless the note says otherwise, and they run roughly from the time apart to the moment you are back together.
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보고 싶어요.
bogo sipeoyo.
I miss you.
Literally: (I) want to see (you).
The everyday way, and the literal meaning is the point: Korean has no verb for missing a person so much as a wish to see them. Drop the 요 for 보고 싶어 with a partner or a close friend.
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많이 보고 싶었어요.
mani bogo sipeosseoyo.
I missed you so much.
Past tense, so this is for the moment you finally meet, not the time apart. Said at an arrivals gate or on a doorstep, usually with a hug.
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빨리 보고 싶어요.
ppalli bogo sipeoyo.
I can't wait to see you.
Literally: (I) want to see (you) quickly.
Forward-looking: a date is set and you are counting down. Sent the night before, it reads as warmth, not pressure.
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언제 와요?
eonje wayo?
When are you coming?
The indirect version. Many Koreans, parents especially, would sooner ask when you are coming home than say they miss you. Hear it as the same message.
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그리워요.
geuriwoyo.
I miss it. / I long for it.
그립다 is for what is gone or far away: a hometown, a season of your life, someone who has died. Use it about a partner you saw on Tuesday and you sound like a ballad. For people who are alive and reachable, stay with 보고 싶어요.
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나도 보고 싶어.
nado bogo sipeo.
I miss you too.
Casual speech (반말), the reply to someone who said it first. 나도 is 'me too'; in polite speech it would be 저도 보고 싶어요.
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Notice that none of these names the other person. 보고 싶어요 has no "you" in it, and 언제 와요 has no "I". Korean leaves both out when the context makes them obvious, which is why the same three words can go to a parent, a partner or a friend and sound right each time.