8 Korean phrases for ordering food delivery (배달), from the app request box to the door
Delivery in Korea mostly happens through an app, so the Korean you need is less a conversation than a handful of lines: what to type in the request box (요청사항), what to say if you ring a small restaurant, and what the rider will say through the intercom.
All eight are in polite 요 speech, which is right for every one of these situations; the rider is a stranger doing you a service, and the restaurant is a business.
-
배달 돼요?
baedal dwaeyo?
Do you deliver?
For a small restaurant you are calling directly, or for checking they cover your address: 여기도 배달 돼요? (do you deliver here too?). 돼요 is the all-purpose 'is it possible'.
Ask Ipsae about this phrase → -
얼마나 걸려요?
eolmana geollyeoyo?
How long will it take?
Phone orders only; the apps show an estimate. The usual answer is a range like 삼십 분에서 사십 분 (30 to 40 minutes).
Ask Ipsae about this phrase → -
덜 맵게 해 주세요.
deol maepge hae juseyo.
Please make it less spicy.
Literally: Do it less spicily, please.
덜 is 'less'; 안 맵게 is 'not spicy at all', which works for some dishes and is impossible for others (떡볶이 comes to mind). Type it in the request box or say it on the phone.
Ask Ipsae about this phrase → -
일회용 수저는 빼 주세요.
ilhoeyong sujeoneun ppae juseyo.
No disposable cutlery, please.
Literally: Take out the single-use spoon and chopsticks.
수저 is a spoon and chopsticks as a set. The apps have a checkbox for this; the sentence is for phone orders, and it tells you what the checkbox says.
Ask Ipsae about this phrase → -
문 앞에 놓아 주세요.
mun ape noa juseyo.
Please leave it at the door.
The most-typed request in Korea and the default for contactless (비대면) delivery. In writing people shorten it to 문 앞에 놔주세요; both are fine.
Ask Ipsae about this phrase → -
벨 누르지 마세요.
bel nureuji maseyo.
Please don't ring the bell.
Usually paired with the one above, especially late at night or with a sleeping child. -지 마세요 is the polite 'please do not'; 노크도 하지 마세요 adds 'and no knocking'.
Ask Ipsae about this phrase → -
배달 왔습니다.
baedal watseumnida.
Delivery's here.
What you hear through the intercom. Reply 네, 문 앞에 놔 주세요 (yes, leave it at the door) or 네, 나갈게요 (yes, I'm coming out).
Ask Ipsae about this phrase → -
감사합니다, 수고하세요.
gamsahamnida, sugohaseyo.
Thank you, take care.
Literally: Thank you, keep working hard.
수고하세요 is what you say to someone still on the job: riders, couriers, shop staff. It is the standard goodbye at the door, and it sounds odd aimed at a friend who is heading home.
Ask Ipsae about this phrase →
The request box is where most of this gets used, and it rewards short, blunt Korean: 문 앞에 놔주세요, 벨 누르지 마세요, 덜 맵게. Nobody is grading your grammar there; they are reading it on a phone in a hallway.