How to Say Thank You in Korean: Which Form for Which Person

A popular rule of thumb says 감사합니다 is the respectful thank-you and 고맙습니다 the friendlier, slightly lesser one, so the first goes to bosses and the second to everyone else. It sounds tidy. It is also the wrong place to start if you want to know how to say thank you in Korean, because the word you choose was never where the politeness lived. Korea’s national language institute accepts both and declines to rank them. What actually changes between a shop clerk and your best friend is the ending you attach, and that part is quick to learn.

Quick answers

• 감사합니다 (gamsahamnida) and 고맙습니다 (gomapseumnida) are both fully polite, and in 2025 the National Institute of Korean Language said it is hard to call even 감사드립니다 more formal than 고맙습니다.
• Match the ending to the person: 감사합니다 or 고맙습니다 for clerks, bosses and strangers, 고마워요 (gomawoyo) for everyday polite talk, and 고마워 (gomawo) only for close friends, children and younger family.
• The easiest reply to a thank-you is 아니에요 (anieyo, “it’s nothing”), while 천만에요 is correct but doubles as a flat “absolutely not.”

Myth: 감사합니다 is more polite than 고맙습니다

Neither outranks the other, and the institute that sets Korean language standards has said so in writing. The National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원), the body behind the Standard Korean Language Dictionary, answers public questions on its 온라인가나다 board, and this one has come up more than once. Asked in December 2024 whether both are correct, it replied that both can be used. In a reply dated March 17, 2025, to someone who had spent a lifetime believing 감사드립니다 was more courteous than 고맙습니다, the institute pointed out that 감사 is Sino-Korean and 고맙다 is native Korean, then concluded that it is hard to say which of the two is more formal. A November 2025 answer added that the two words don’t mean exactly the same thing but overlap enough that either works as a greeting, and that 고맙습니다 gets used a lot because 고맙다 is the native word carrying the core meaning. That question came from a user who had noticed the Q&A team always writes 고맙습니다 in its replies.

Grammatically, the two are twins. Both carry the -ㅂ니다 / -습니다 ending of 하십시오체, the style the dictionary defines as raising the listener very high, so neither can be a step down. The grain of truth is about texture, not rank: a 2005 issue of the institute’s newsletter suggested that 감사하다 sits a little more naturally in formal phrasing, while 고맙다 suits friendly relationships and a softer tone, and it encouraged people to keep the native word in use.

Here is how each one sounds:

• 감사합니다: gamsahamnida, pronounced [감사함니다], gam-sa-ham-ni-da. The ㅂ of 합 turns into ㅁ before ㄴ, and the institute confirmed in a July 2026 answer that 합니다 is said [함니다].
• 고맙습니다: gomapseumnida, pronounced [고맙씀니다], go-map-sseum-ni-da, with the same ㅂ-to-ㅁ shift plus a tensed ㅆ after the first ㅂ.

If that ㅂ-to-ㅁ shift looks arbitrary, it is one of the rules in our guide to reading Korean words faster, and it turns up in every -ㅂ니다 verb you will ever say. In a full sentence, 도와주셔서 감사합니다 (dowajusyeoseo gamsahamnida) means “thank you for helping me,” and 고맙습니다 slots into the same spot without changing the politeness at all.

Myth: How to say thank you in Korean depends on which word you pick

It depends on the ending, and the ending depends on who is in front of you. Korean grades every sentence by speech level, and a thank-you simply follows that level: -ㅂ니다 for formal 합쇼체 (hapsyo-che, also called 하십시오체), -요 for everyday polite 해요체 (haeyo-che), and no polite ending at all for 반말 (banmal), the casual speech of close friends. Our piece on Korean honorific mistakes walks through the whole speech-level system; for thanks, the decision comes down to this table.

Who you’re thanking	What to say	Speech level
Convenience-store clerk, barista, server	감사합니다 or 고맙습니다	합쇼체
Taxi driver	기사님, 감사합니다	합쇼체
Your boss, a professor, a client	감사합니다 (in an email, 감사드립니다)	합쇼체
An older stranger who gave you directions	감사합니다 or 고맙습니다	합쇼체
A coworker or classmate you aren’t close to	고마워요 or 감사해요	해요체
A close friend your age	고마워	반말
A younger sibling or cousin, a child	고마워	반말

고맙다 belongs to the ㅂ-irregular verbs: before a vowel ending, its final ㅂ becomes 우, which merges into 워. That gives 고마워요 (gomawoyo, go-ma-wo-yo) and, once you drop the 요, 고마워 (gomawo). Spell it with 워. The spelling 고마와 looks plausible and is wrong; the institute’s FAQ confirms 고마워 as the correct form under the Hangul spelling rules.

For the taxi row, 기사님 (gisanim) is the word for driver with the honorific 님 attached, and putting it in front of the thank-you is a polite way to leave a cab. In the boss row, 감사드립니다 (gamsadeurimnida) is an option for writing. A June 2025 answer from the institute said the humble suffix -드리다 can make the speaker sound a little more modest, while plain 감사합니다 does not lower the listener in any way. Whether someone counts as younger, and close enough for 반말, is the same calculation that decides who you can call oppa, unnie, hyung or noona.

Myth: 고마워요 is too casual for strangers

“Informal” is a grammar label here, not a rudeness warning. The tag “informal polite” attached to 해요체 trips learners up, because they read the first word and skip the second. The Standard Korean Language Dictionary defines 해요체 as a non-formal style that raises the listener to an ordinary degree and is used broadly in places where the formal 하오체 and 하십시오체 would otherwise go. So 고마워요 to the stranger who held a door, the neighbor who returned your umbrella, or the pharmacist who explained the dosage is polite Korean. If you’re the one at the pharmacy counter, our pharmacy phrases for tourists cover the rest of that conversation.

Save 합쇼체 for moments that are formal by nature: a first meeting with someone senior, the office, a presentation, a business email. Getting it wrong in the polite direction costs very little; 감사합니다 to a close friend just sounds a bit stiff, like signing a text to your sister “Kind regards.”

Myth: The polite reply to a thank-you is 천만에요

천만에요 (cheonmaneyo, cheon-man-e-yo) is real, correct Korean, but it is a blunt instrument. The Standard Korean Language Dictionary defines 천만에 as a word meaning “not at all, that cannot be,” used both to contradict what someone said and to answer it with modesty. That double life is the catch, since the word that means “don’t mention it” can also mean “absolutely not!” in an argument. In a December 2024 answer, the institute confirmed that it can serve as a humble reply even to an elder who thanks you, adding that etiquette also depends on your relationship and on how the other person takes it.

Replies to reach for first:

• 아니에요 (anieyo, a-ni-e-yo): literally “it isn’t,” meaning “it’s nothing.” Spell it with 에요; the institute confirmed in 2024 that the correct form is 아니에요, not 아니예요. Between friends it shrinks to 아니야 (aniya).
• 별말씀을요 (byeol-mal-sseum-eul-yo, run together when spoken): 별말씀 is the honorific form of 별말, “anything particular to say,” so the phrase is a modest “you needn’t say so.” The honorific makes it the natural fit when someone senior thanks you.
• 감사합니다, back: at a shop counter, the simplest reply to a clerk’s thanks is to thank them in return.

The Real Reason 감사합니다 Sounds Politer

The myth borrows a pattern that is real elsewhere in Korean. Some Sino-Korean words serve as honorific stand-ins: 연세 (yeonse, 年歲) is the honorific word for age in place of native 나이, and 댁 (daek, 宅) is how you refer respectfully to someone else’s home instead of 집. Put 감사 (感謝, the same two characters Japanese reads as kansha) next to native 고맙다, and the conclusion seems obvious. The Chinese-character word must be the polite one.

For thanks, the pattern breaks. The dictionary labels 연세 explicitly as the honorific of 나이, but it defines 감사하다 simply as 고맙게 여기다, “to feel 고맙다 about something,” with no honorific tag at all. One word is explained through the other. What survives the myth is texture: 감사합니다 can feel a touch more formal, which is the newsletter’s 2005 observation, 고맙습니다 a touch warmer, and 감사드립니다 a touch humbler. None of that is a ranking.

So the politeness lives in two places you control. One is the ending, chosen for the person. The other is the title you put in front, such as 기사님, 선생님 (seonsaengnim) or 사장님 (sajangnim). Get those two right and use whichever thank-you word comes out of your mouth first. You will be doing exactly what the language asks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is it spelled gamsahamnida or kamsahamnida?

Both point at the same word. The Revised Romanization of Korean, revised in 2000, writes ㄱ as g before a vowel and keeps k for ㄱ before a consonant or at the end of a word, so gamsahamnida is the official spelling. The same system writes sound changes such as nasalization, which is why it ends in -hamnida rather than -habnida.

Q: How do you say “thank you very much” in Korean?

Add an intensifier in front: 정말 감사합니다 (jeongmal gamsahamnida, “truly, thank you”) works almost anywhere, and 대단히 감사합니다 (daedanhi gamsahamnida) is another intensified form, with 대단히 meaning “to a great degree”. With a close friend, 정말 고마워 (jeongmal gomawo) does the same job.

Q: Can I say 수고하세요 instead of thank you?

To a peer or a junior, yes; to someone senior, no. The institute’s etiquette guidance, quoted in a December 2025 answer, calls aiming 수고 at a superior undesirable while accepting 먼저 갑니다, 수고하세요 (meonjeo gamnida, sugohaseyo) between colleagues of the same age or toward junior staff. When you leave work before the people still at their desks, the same guidance gives 먼저 가겠습니다 (meonjeo gagetseumnida, “I’ll head off first”) or 내일 뵙겠습니다 (naeil boepgetseumnida, “see you tomorrow”).

Q: What does it mean when an older Korean says 고맙다?

고맙다 (gomapda) is the plain style, which an older speaker can use toward someone much younger, often as 고맙다 or 고맙구나 (gomapguna). You just can’t hand it back upward; answer with 아니에요.

Q: What do you say after someone buys you a meal?

Say 잘 먹었습니다 (jal meogeotseumnida, “I ate well”) when the meal is over, usually alongside 감사합니다. Before the first bite, it’s 잘 먹겠습니다 (jal meokgetseumnida). When asked in January 2026 whether that pre-meal line is impolite in front of elders, the institute replied that no rule governs it and there is no real basis for calling it wrong.

Pick the ending for the person, put a title in front when you know one, and either thank-you word will carry you through every counter, cab and office in Korea.