There's a category of Korean phrases where, if you translate them word for word, they come out sounding almost nonsensical. "Please treat me well." "Did you eat?" Said in English, out of nowhere, these would get you a confused look. But in Korean, not saying them at the right moment is what actually gets noticed.

That's because these phrases aren't really carrying their literal meaning. Nobody's genuinely asking if you ate, and nobody's actually worried about your safety on a two-block walk home. Translated, they sound off. In Korean, they're just what you say and no one even notices them as phrases anymore.

Let's go through five of these.

잘 부탁드립니다

Literally, this breaks down to something like "please treat me well" or "please take good care of things," but nobody actually says that in English when meeting someone new.

The situation people usually picture first is the workplace one. First day at a new job, meeting a new team, joining a group project. It signals "I'm counting on your goodwill going forward" without sounding needy, because it's just the standard thing everyone says.

처음 뵙겠습니다. 새로 입사한 김민수입니다. 잘 부탁드립니다.

Nice to meet you. I'm Minsu Kim, the new hire. Looking forward to working with you.

A shop owner will say it to you on your first visit to their newly opened store. They're not asking you for a favor in the way it sounds — it's closer to "I hope you'll like this place and come back."

저희 오늘 오픈했는데, 잘 부탁드려요.

We just opened, so I hope you'll be kind to us. (Meaning: come back, tell your friends, be patient with us as we get going.)

You'll also hear it between neighbors right after moving in, from a new roommate on move-in day, or from a blind date at the very start of the conversation, where it functions almost like "let's get along." Parents say it to a teacher on the first day of school, handing their kid over with an unspoken "please look after them." Two companies starting a new business deal will say it to each other at the signing, meaning something closer to "let's make this partnership work."

이번 프로젝트 같이 잘 부탁드려요.

Let's work well together on this project.

What ties all of these together is something new is starting, whether it is a job, a friendship, a customer relationship, a partnership.

수고하세요 / 수고하셨습니다

수고 means something like "effort" or "trouble," so this is roughly "please take some effort" or "you took some effort." Said like that, it sounds bizarre. But it's one of the most common things you'll hear in Korean workplaces.

수고하세요 is what you say to someone as you're leaving while they're still working: a cashier as you walk out, a coworker still at their desk when you head home, a delivery driver dropping off your food. It acknowledges that they're still grinding while you get to leave.

수고하셨습니다 is the past-tense version, said at the end of something: after a meeting wraps up, after a shift ends, after a group project is turned in. It's an acknowledgment that everyone put in work.

오늘 회의 여기까지 하겠습니다. 다들 수고하셨습니다.

That's it for today's meeting. Thanks for the hard work, everyone.

English doesn't really have a phrase for "acknowledging someone's effort as a routine social nicety." The closest is "good work" or "thanks for that," but those feel like praise for a specific achievement. 수고하셨습니다 doesn't care whether the outcome was good.

들어가세요

들어간다 means "to go in" or "to enter," so this literally translates to "please go in." Said on its own, that's a strange thing to tell someone.

You say this to someone as they're heading home and you're the one staying put or walking away first. A friend drops you off at your building and you turn to say it before they drive off. You end a phone call late at night. You say goodbye to a coworker at the subway station while you keep walking to your own line. It's specifically for the moment where the other person still has to get themselves inside somewhere, and you're sending them off toward that.

오늘 만나서 반가웠어요. 잘 들어가세요.

Good seeing you today. Get home safe.

"Get home safe" is the closest English gets, but that's really a translation of the intent, not the words. 들어가세요 doesn't mention safety at all.

조심히 가세요

This one literally means "go carefully," and it sounds like real safety advice if you translate it word for word. But for the most part, it isn't.

You say it at the end of basically any goodbye where the other person is about to travel somewhere, even if that's a five-minute walk to the bus stop in broad daylight.

오늘 즐거웠어요. 조심히 가세요. Had a great time today. Take care on your way home.

It sits somewhere between "safe travels" and "take care," but neither one gets used as reflexively as 조심히 가세요 does. In English you'd only say "safe travels" for an actual trip. In Korean, it's said for every single departure, dangerous or not.

식사하셨어요? / 밥 먹었어?

The literal meaning is exactly what it looks like: "have you eaten?" But it functions less like a real question and more like "how are you," especially the formal version.

식사하셨어요? shows up as small talk from an older relative, a landlord you run into in the hallway, or a boss checking in on you. It fills the same social slot "how's it going" fills in English.

밥 먹었어? is the casual version, and this one can go either direction — sometimes it really is small talk, but between close friends or family it can also be a genuine, caring check-in, especially if someone's been through something rough that day.

밥은 먹었어? 하루 종일 아무것도 안 먹었지!

Did you eat? You haven't had anything all day, have you!

Want to learn more Korean? Give Daily Tokki a try — we'll give you personalized feedback on your answer to a new question every day.