8 phrases for making friends in Korean
Friendship in Korea has a visible threshold, and crossing it is a conversation rather than a feeling: you learn each other's ages, agree to speak casually, and settle on what to call each other. Before that you are polite acquaintances; after it you are 친구, or someone's 언니 or 형, and the whole way you talk changes.
These eight take you from the first hello to that switch. They are in polite 요 speech, which is where every friendship starts, and the notes say when and how the casual forms take over.
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만나서 반가워요.
mannaseo bangawoyo.
Nice to meet you.
Warmer and more everyday than the textbook 처음 뵙겠습니다, which belongs to business cards. With someone clearly older or in a formal setting, 반갑습니다 (bangapseumnida).
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몇 살이에요?
myeot sarieyo?
How old are you?
Asked early and without embarrassment, because age decides how two Koreans speak to each other and what they call each other. Between young people this form is fine; to anyone older, 나이가 어떻게 되세요? (naiga eotteoke doeseyo?).
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저도요.
jeodoyo.
Me too.
The two syllables that keep a first conversation alive: same hometown, same band, same hatred of the morning subway. Among friends it becomes 나도 (nado).
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카톡 해요?
katok haeyo?
Are you on KakaoTalk?
Koreans exchange 카톡 the way others exchange numbers, and the answer is almost always yes. Follow with 아이디 알려 주세요 (tell me your ID) or hold out your phone to scan the QR code.
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다음에 같이 놀아요.
daeume gachi norayo.
Let's hang out sometime.
놀다 is 'to play', and adults use it for hanging out without any childishness. Said at a goodbye it is pleasant but vague; attach a day, 이번 주말에 (this weekend), and it becomes a plan.
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우리 말 놓을까요?
uri mal noeulkkayo?
Shall we drop the formal speech?
Literally: Shall we put down speech?
The moment acquaintances become friends. The older or more senior person is the one who should offer; if you are younger, 말 편하게 하세요 (speak comfortably) invites them to switch while you stay polite a little longer.
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언니라고 불러도 돼요?
eonnirago bulleodo dwaeyo?
Can I call you eonni?
Close friends call each other by family terms rather than names: 언니 (woman to older woman), 오빠 (woman to older man), 누나 (man to older woman), 형 (man to older man). Being asked this is a compliment, and the answer is nearly always 그럼요.
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연락하고 지내요.
yeollakago jinaeyo.
Let's keep in touch.
Literally: Let's live while contacting.
The sincere version of a goodbye, said when you mean it. A 카톡 the next day, even just a photo from the evening, is what makes it true.
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One quiet rule underneath all of this: 친구 (chingu, friend) in the strict sense means someone your own age. People a year older become 언니, 오빠, 누나 or 형 instead, and will introduce you as their 동생 (dongsaeng, younger sibling). It is not distance. It is how closeness is spelled.