How to Pronounce 안녕하세요: Sounds, Rules and Examples

What you'll learn

• Say 안녕하세요 in five even beats.
• Explain why the ㄴ sound in 안녕 is held a little longer.
• Say the final ㅇ of 녕 as "ng" without adding a "g" or moving it to 하.
• Tell 안녕, 안녕하세요 and 안녕히 가세요 apart.

Before you start: know the letters ㅇ, ㄴ, ㅎ and ㅅ. The lesson takes about 10 minutes, and audio plays only when you press a button.

Key facts

• The final ㅇ of 녕 is the "ng" of English "sing" and does not move to 하.
• The ㅎ in 하 is light, and it can almost vanish in relaxed speech.

Last updated: 2026-10-09. The Korean text, romanization and audio scripts on this page were generated and reviewed and signed off by Min-ji Park on 15 October 2026.

How to Pronounce 안녕하세요 in Five Steps

To pronounce 안녕하세요, say five syllables at an even pace: an, nyeong, ha, se, yo. Each syllable gets about the same length, and the stress is flat. Korean does not stress one syllable the way English stresses "hel" in "hello".

1. 안 (an). Say "ah" and close with the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth. This is the ㄴ batchim, the final consonant of the block.
2. 녕 (nyeong). Keep the tongue where it is, hold it a fraction longer, then release into "nyuh". The two ㄴ sounds merge into one.
3. 녕, the ending. Finish the syllable with ㅇ, the "ng" of "sing". The back of the tongue touches the soft part of the roof of the mouth. Stop there.
4. 하 (ha). Add a light breath and "ah". Do not push the air.
5. 세요 (seyo). Say "seh" and "yo" quickly: 세 is ㅅ + ㅔ and 요 is ㅇ + ㅛ.

You will know it worked when the greeting sounds like a smooth line with no gap after "ng". The next section explains why nothing needs rewriting.

Which Sound Rules Apply to 안녕하세요?

No sound-change rule from the Standard Pronunciation Rules (표준 발음법) of the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) rewrites 안녕하세요, but three details still need care. Each one is a place where learners add a sound that is not there.

The first detail is a plain repeat of the same sound across a syllable border, so the tongue stays in place. For a map of all Korean sounds, see the Korean sound system. The third detail is a general habit called ㅎ weakening, covered in ㅎ weakening. The ㅇ batchim never links forward, even before a vowel: 강아지 (puppy) is said [강아지], with the ng kept on 강.

Now compare the full greeting with two shorter and longer relatives.

What Do 안녕, 안녕하세요 and 안녕히 가세요 Mean?

안녕 means "hello" or "bye" among friends, 안녕하세요 is the polite "hello", and 안녕히 가세요 means "goodbye" said to someone who is leaving. All three share the syllables 안녕, so the sound work you did carries over.

The ending -세요 is a polite request or statement ending, explained in the grammar hub. Hear the short form.

The clip is 안녕, the casual form. The same ㄴ and ng appear in both, with no sound change. For the full set of ways to greet people, see Korean greetings and hello in Korean. Next, one complete example.

Worked Example: Saying 안녕히 가세요

The worked example below builds the parting phrase 안녕히 가세요 from the sounds you already know.

1. Start with 안녕. Say it as before: an, then the long ㄴ, then ng.
2. Add 히 (hi). The ㅎ is light again, followed by "ee".
3. Keep one breath across the two words. Korean writes a space there, but speakers do not pause.
4. Add 가세요 (gaseyo). ㄱ at the start of a word is soft, between English "k" and "g".
5. Join it all with the same even beat.

The ㅎ in 히 follows the same light pattern as the ㅎ in 하. The greeting and the farewell therefore train the same light ㅎ.

Why Do English Speakers Mispronounce 안녕하세요?

English speakers mispronounce 안녕하세요 because English habits fill the gaps that Korean leaves empty. Four assumptions cause most errors.

• Learners often assume that the stress falls on one syllable. Actually Korean syllables are close to equal in length, because Seoul Korean has no word stress of the English kind; the melody comes from the phrase, not from one strong syllable.
• Learners often assume that the two ㄴ sounds are two separate sounds. Actually the tongue stays in place, so they join into one longer ㄴ.
• Learners often assume that "ng" is followed by a "g". Actually the ㅇ at the end of a block is only the "ng" of "sing", so "nyeong-gha" is wrong.
• Learners often assume that ㅎ must sound like the English "h" in "hello". Actually it is lighter, because it sits between voiced sounds and speakers relax it.

Fixing any one of these makes the greeting sound clearly more natural. Now test yourself.

Practice and Answer Key

Do the exercises after listening. Cover the answer key until you finish.

1. Count. How many syllables does 안녕하세요 have?
2. Sound. What does the final ㅇ of 녕 sound like?
3. Rule. Does 안녕하세요 change when spoken?
4. Choose. Which greeting suits a shop clerk: 안녕 or 안녕하세요?
5. Spell. Write the polite hello in Hangul.

Answer key: 1. Five. 2. "ng", as in "sing". 3. No, it is spoken as written. 4. 안녕하세요. 5. 안녕하세요.

Common questions follow.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you say hello in Korean? Say 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo). It is the polite everyday hello for strangers, shop staff, teachers and anyone older than you. Use 안녕 (annyeong) only with close friends or children. Both are said as written, with five even beats for the long form and two for the short form.

Is 안녕하세요 romanized annyeonghaseyo? Yes. Revised Romanization, the official system of the South Korean government, writes 안녕하세요 as annyeonghaseyo. The double n shows the long ㄴ, and the ng shows the final ㅇ. Treat the romanization only as a reading aid, because the Hangul spelling shows the sounds more reliably.

Why is the ㅎ in 안녕하세요 weak? The ㅎ sits between two voiced sounds, the ng of 녕 and the vowel of 하, and speakers often relax it there. The result is a very light breath, not a hard English "h". Say it lightly in careful speech and do not worry if it nearly vanishes when you speak fast.

What is the difference between 안녕 and 안녕하세요? 안녕 is the casual form used with close friends, children and people your own age or younger who are close to you. 안녕하세요 adds the polite ending 하세요, so it suits strangers and elders. Both mean "hello" and both are used as the first word of a meeting.

Next Steps and Scope

How to pronounce 안녕하세요 comes down to five even beats, a joined ㄴ, a plain "ng" and a light ㅎ. This lesson does not cover the many ways Koreans greet one another by time of day, it does not score your speech, and the weak ㅎ is a description of common speech reviewed and signed off by Min-ji Park on 15 October 2026. For more on the polite ending, see the Korean greetings lessons. The word list lives in How to Pronounce Korean Words, and the sound-change rules are in the Korean pronunciation section.

Next in the series: How to Pronounce 감사합니다.