잘 다녀와요 meaning / How BTS says “Take care and see you when you’re back” in Korean.

우리 형 !! 잘 다녀와요!! 💜러뷰💜 pic.twitter.com/ZP6yryv2qe

— 방탄소년단 (@BTS_twt) December 13, 2022

What does “잘 다녀와요!” mean?

Hi, everyone. Today, we’ll take a look at the Korean expression ‘잘 다녀와요’. It’s a very common expression that you can see in many Korean conversations, especially when someone is saying goodbye to a person who has to leave at the moment. However, ‘잘 다녀와요’ is not a mere goodbye. This simple phrase actually means: “Goodbye and I’ll see you again when you’re back! Take care while you’re there.” Let’s break this expression down and try to understand how it was formed. In order to do this, we’ll start with learning a few basic Korean verbs.

Korean verbs related to movement ‘가다’, ‘오다’, ‘다니다’

Here, we’ll first learn verbs which have the meanings of “to come,” “to go,” and “to come back.”

가다	to go
오다	to come
다니다	to go, to go around with

‘가다’ as a Korean verb – to go

“가다” is used to say that you “go” somewhere. Whether you’re going to a school, a gym, or a supermarket. It refers to your one-way movement of going somewhere.

‘오다’ as a Korean verb – to come

“오다” is used when you “come” from another place. This word is the opposite of “가다”.

What does the Korean verb ‘다니다’ mean?

“다니다” is a multiple-direction movement of going and coming back, possibly several times. For instance, let’s say that you’re a student. You’d still go to a school. Here, although we say that you “go” to the school, you just won’t “go” to your school one-way, one-time. Right? When the school is over, you’ll come back home from the school. Moreover, you don’t go to school just one single day, you go to school on a regular basis because it’s a part of your life. Here, we can use the verb “다니다”.

Korean verb ‘다니다’ in its various forms

Now, the word “다니다” can be combined with other verbs and change into verbs that have different meanings.

What is the meaning of ‘다녀오다’?

다녀오다
= 다니다 (to go around with) + 오다 (to come)
= to go somewhere and be back later

ex) 안나는 집에 다녀왔다.
= Anna came back after going home.
= Anna visited home and then came back.

What is the meaning of ‘다녀가다’?

다녀가다
= 다니다 (to go around with) + 가다 (to go)
= to drop by and then leave

ex) 아빠는 이미 다녀갔다.
= Dad has already dropped by (and have left).

The adverb ‘잘'(well) in Korean phrases

Now, we’ll look at some expressions that can supplement the verb. “잘” is an adverb that means “well.” Although adverbs usually come after the verbs in English, Korean adverbs are placed in front of the verbs that they supplement in the sentence.

잘 다녀오다
잘 (well) + 다녀오다 (to go somewhere and be back)
= to go somewhere and then come back safely

ex) 잘 다녀오는 것이 가장 중요하다.
= Coming back safely is the most important.

Korean verb in imperative form

Now, let’s learn how to make the Korean verb ‘다녀오다’ in its imperative form. To change it into an imperative form, all you need to do is remove “-다,” which is the ending of the original forms of Korean verbs, and add “-ㅏ” to the verb stem. This is the simplest and the most casual way of making imperatives for friends or someone you’re close to.

‘다녀와’ as an Imperative without honorifics

다녀오 + -ㅏ = 다녀와
go and come back (imperative form)

ex) 집에 다녀와.
= Come back after visiting home.
= Go home (and handle your business) and then get back.

ex) 잘 다녀와.
= Come back well.
= Goodbye, I’ll see you again when you’re back. Take care while you’re there.

‘다녀와요’ using the Korean honorifics ‘요’

다녀와 → 다녀와요 (Honorifics ‘-요’) 
= 다녀와 + 요

To say it in a politer manner, you can add “-요,” which is an auxiliary postpositional particle showing respect.

ex) 다녀와요.
= go and come back (imperative form, slightly politer)
= Goodbye, I’ll be expecting you when you’re back

ex) 집에 잘 다녀와요.
= Take care and be back after visiting home. (more polite form)
= Go home (and handle your business well) and then get back safely.

In conclusion, the Korean phrase ‘잘 다녀와요’ means…

It all started with the verb ‘다녀오다’ (to go visit somewhere and then be back). ‘다녀와’ is the imperative form, and we can make it politer by adding ‘-요’ at the end. We also learned that ‘잘’ is the adverb that means ‘well’, and that Korean adverbs come in front of the verbs they supplement. All of the above is added up to make the Korean phrase ‘잘 다녀와요’ which means: Goodbye and I’ll see you again when you’re back. Take care while you’re there.