9 ways to say get well soon in Korean
When a Korean friend says they are sick, the reply is rarely one line. It is a question (is it bad, did you see a doctor), an instruction (rest, take your medicine) and a wish, in that order, and the instruction is the part that counts as warmth. Telling someone what to do is how care sounds in Korean.
The phrases below are polite 요 speech, right for a friend you still use 요 with, a colleague or a classmate. The casual (반말) versions for close friends are noted, and the last one is formal, for a card or a message to someone senior.
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많이 아파요?
mani apayo?
Is it bad?
Literally: Does it hurt a lot?
The first question when someone says they are sick. 아프다 covers both pain and illness, so it asks about both at once, and a 조금 (a little) or 네, 많이 is all it needs back.
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병원 갔어요?
byeongwon gasseoyo?
Did you see a doctor?
Literally: Did you go to the hospital?
병원 means any clinic, not only a hospital, and Koreans go for a cold. Asking is care, not alarm, and 약 먹었어요? (did you take medicine) follows almost automatically.
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빨리 나으세요.
ppalli naeuseyo.
Get well soon.
Literally: Recover quickly.
The standard polite wish. 낫다 (to recover) is an irregular verb, which is why the form is 나으세요 with no ㅅ. To a close friend in casual speech, 빨리 나아.
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푹 쉬세요.
puk swiseyo.
Get plenty of rest.
푹 is the sound-word for deep and thorough, the same one used for sleep (푹 자요). The most common sign-off on a message to a sick friend.
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약 챙겨 먹어요.
yak chaenggyeo meogeoyo.
Remember to take your medicine.
챙기다, to make sure of something, turns a reminder into looking after someone. Polite imperative; to a friend, 약 챙겨 먹어. Koreans say 먹다 (eat) for taking medicine.
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무리하지 마세요.
murihaji maseyo.
Don't overdo it.
무리 is strain beyond what is reasonable. For the colleague back at work too early or the friend who insists on coming out; it is also what the doctor will have said.
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몸조리 잘하세요.
momjori jalhaseyo.
Take good care of yourself.
Literally: Do your body-care well.
몸조리 is looking after the body during recovery, after illness, surgery or childbirth. Warmer and a little older-sounding than 빨리 나으세요; the phrase for a colleague's parent or a new mother.
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필요한 거 있으면 말해요.
piryohan geo isseumyeon malhaeyo.
Tell me if you need anything.
The offer. 말해요 is polite but close, 요 without the honorific 말씀하세요, the register of friends who still use 요 with each other. If they take you up on it, 죽 (porridge) is what Koreans bring.
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쾌차하시길 바랍니다.
kwaechahasigil baramnida.
Wishing you a speedy recovery.
Formal and written: a card, a message to a manager or an elder, a florist's ribbon. 쾌차 is a Sino-Korean word nobody says aloud to a friend, and 바랍니다 (I hope) is the formal verb that closes it.
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Notice how many of these are instructions: rest, eat, take your medicine, do not overdo it. In English that might sound like nagging; in Korean the imperative with 요 or 세요 is how affection gets said, and a bare 빨리 나으세요 with none of it sounds slightly distant.