I’m learning korean with the swedish version of the app. And it gave me the phrase 안녕히 주무세요 for “good night”.
Now roughly translating the swedish words to english it says natt/night is 안녕히 and tillbringar/spends is 주무세요 but that doesnt agree at all with google translate (I use it to hear more voice examples of pronounciations) translations at all and is making me sooo confused. My friend have the app in english and he doesnt recognize it at all. Is the swedish.korean verison mucked up? And how can I change my version to english.korean in that case… What is the correct word for “night”?
Hello, I’m not a native Korean, but I’ve been studying Korean for over a year now, so I’ll try to help.
안녕히 주무세요 is indeed good night. However, 안녕히 is not night.
Let me break it down for you.
안녕히: Peacefully
주무: Sleep (주무 is rarely used on it’s own, usually 주무시다 in the honorific form)
세요: Please do (something)
So 안녕히 주무세요 is literally “Please sleep peacefully” in the most polite way possible. Koreans generally don’t say “good night” in the literal sense before going to bed. They phrase it in the way of having a good sleep. A more informal way of saying “good night” would be 잘 자 which is literally “sleep well”.
The most common word for night is 밤.
For example:
밤에 뭐 해요? What do you do at night?
So you might be thinking, can I use 좋은 밤이에요? (Literally “good night”)
If you use this, it might not convey the meaning of “good night” in English (where someone is going to sleep). It might suggest that the night is good, or you just enjoy the night, since the weather at night is nice. Yep, Koreans may think it is literally “good night”. (Not sure on this, need confirmation haha)
Hope this helped!
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[quote=“zschuah, post:2, topic:10591”]
So you might be thinking, can I use 좋은 밤이에요? (Literally “good night”)
If you use this, it might not convey the meaning of “good night” in English
[/quote]That’s exactly right.
To add: this type of expression are functional language - the precise meanings of the words or the grammar construction do not so much contribute to the use as does the situation when to use it and what the intention it expresses in that situation.
Other examples are: Thank you!, You’re welcome!, See you later, Goodbye, Let’s see., Bon apetite (for which there is not good English alternative), I’m sorry!.
In many languages you might use phrases of the words mean something quite different, but have the same communicative and social function. For example, chinese people might say something that translates as ‘Have you eaten?’ as a way to say hello! To which you usually will say: ‘Yes, I have’, even if you have not.
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