We haven’t seen anything new from NU’EST in a while as they’ve been busy promoting outside of Korea, but 2013’s Hello was a classic ballard-pop track, with a snowy MV to boot.
Objective: Say hello (when picking up a phone) and how are you
Bonus vocabulary: Where are you?; rain
The title of the track is Hello = 여보세요 yeoboseyo and it’s repeated throughout the chorus.
While annyeonghaseyo is the best way to say hello face to face, yeoboseyo? is the telephone hello. It’s the first thing you should say when answering a call from Korean friends, and should you lose connection or reception mid-call, it can be repeated to check if the other person can still hear you.
Have you eaten yet? = 밥은 먹었니 babeun mogeotni is also heard after yeoboseyo.
rice, meal = 밥 bab
to eat = 먹다 mokda
There are two meanings to this phrase: (1) How are you? (2) did you eat anything yet?
Consider (1) like the British how are you. Even if the day is a bit crappy, we tend to answer ‘fine’ or ‘ok’ without going into much detail unless the person shows further interest. (1) isn’t generally used to offer you food. It’s showing an interest in your general wellbeing.
Thus the most common answer to (1) is: yes, I’ve eaten = 예, 밥 먹었어요 ne, bab mogossoyo.Even if you haven’t.
Of course, (2) can also crop up, and the situation will be clear: the person asking might be putting some food in a dish, or pulling you strongly towards a restaurant. In this case it’s totally ok to fess up if you haven’t eaten.
No, I’m hungry (literally, my stomach is empty) = 아뇨, 배고파요 annyeong, pegopayo.
Bonus vocabulary
Where are you, what are you doing = 어디서 뭐 하는지 odiseo mwo haneunji
rain = 비 pi also appears a few times in the song.
