9 Korean housewarming (집들이) phrases, for guests and for hosts
In Korea a move comes with a social debt: the person who moved hosts a 집들이, and friends start asking about it before the boxes are unpacked. It is a dinner at home, a tour of the apartment, and a very specific set of gifts.
The phrases below cover both sides of the door, guests first, then hosts, then the goodbye. They are polite 요 speech, which fits a friend's housewarming; a colleague's or an elder's calls for the 합니다 forms noted along the way.
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집들이 언제 해요?
jipdeuri eonje haeyo?
When's the housewarming?
Friends ask this the moment they hear you moved. It is half a joke and half a real expectation: in Korea the person who moved hosts, and the guests come to them.
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초대해 주셔서 감사해요.
chodaehae jusyeoseo gamsahaeyo.
Thanks for inviting me.
At the door, gift in hand. 감사해요 rather than 감사합니다 keeps it warm between friends; use the 합니다 form at a colleague's or a senior's home.
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별거 아니지만 받아 주세요.
byeolgeo anijiman bada juseyo.
It's nothing much, but please take it.
Literally: Although it's no big thing, please receive it.
The gift line. The classic 집들이 gifts are toilet paper (so life unrolls smoothly) and laundry detergent (so good fortune foams up); candles, plants and hand soap are the modern versions.
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집 정말 좋네요.
jip jeongmal jonneyo.
The place is really nice.
Said looking around in the first thirty seconds, before you have seen anything. 네요 marks it as a fresh impression. 밝네요 (it's bright) and 넓네요 (it's spacious) are the usual follow-ups.
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집 구경 좀 해도 돼요?
jip gugyeong jom haedo dwaeyo?
Can I have a look around?
Literally: May I do a little house-sightseeing?
The tour is an expected part of a 집들이, and the host wants to give it. 구경 is the same word used for sightseeing and window-shopping.
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편하게 계세요.
pyeonhage gyeseyo.
Make yourself at home.
Literally: Stay comfortably.
The host's line once coats are off. 편하게 앉으세요 (sit comfortably) is the version that points at the floor cushions.
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많이 드세요.
mani deuseyo.
Help yourself, eat plenty.
Literally: Eat a lot.
Said by the host while putting more food in front of you, and said again when you slow down. Refusing is not really an option; 잘 먹고 있어요 (I'm eating well) is how you reassure them.
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잘 먹었습니다.
jal meogeotseumnida.
Thank you for the meal.
Literally: I ate well.
The after-dinner line, to the person who cooked. It pairs with 잘 먹겠습니다 before the meal, and the two together are the whole etiquette of eating at someone's home.
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새집에서 좋은 일만 있길 바라요.
saejibeseo joeun ilman itgil barayo.
Wishing you only good things in the new home.
What goes on the card or gets said at the door on the way out. 좋은 일만 (only good things) is the stock wish for any new beginning; swap 새집 for 새해 and it is a New Year greeting.
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Almost every line here is about food or the house itself. A 집들이 is not a party where people stand around with drinks; it is a sit-down meal the host cooked, and the compliments go to the apartment and the cooking, in that order.