How to Say “Do you speak English” in Korean: 영어 하세요?

영어 하세요?

yeongeo haseyo?

Situation: Introductions & meeting peopleLevel: Starter (just learning Hangul)

Meaning

Do you speak English?

하세요 is the honorific of 하다, so it literally asks “do you do English?” Replace 영어 with 일본어 or 중국어 as needed.

Romanization follows the Revised Romanization system and is a guide to pronunciation.

Ask staff, hotel employees or strangers whether they speak English. Adding 혹시 (“by any chance”) makes it more polite.

It is short, so with elders or in formal places 영어 할 수 있으세요? sounds more careful. Starting with a Korean greeting also helps.

Syllables: 5 · Words: 2

It is pronounced just as it is written.

Syllable	Letters (consonant + vowel + final)	Romanization
영어
영	ㅇ+ㅕ+ㅇ	yeong
어	ㅇ+ㅓ	eo
하세요
하	ㅎ+ㅏ	ha
세	ㅅ+ㅔ	se
요	ㅇ+ㅛ	yo

A ㅇ at the start of a syllable is silent; at the end of a syllable it sounds like “ng”.

Style: Polite (해요체)Sentence type: Question

Ends in -요. The everyday polite style, and a safe choice with shop staff, colleagues, strangers and anyone older than you.

It contains the honorific -(으)시-, which shows respect to the person being talked about or talked to.

These words from the TOPIK vocabulary lists appear in the phrase (shown in dictionary form).

Korean	Part of speech	Meaning	Level
하다	verb	to do	TOPIK level 1

Test yourself before you move on. Tap an answer.

Question 1 What does “영어 하세요?” mean?

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Answer: Do you speak English?

Question 2 How do you say “Do you speak English?” in Korean?

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Answer: 영어 하세요? yeongeo haseyo?

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