How to compliment a guy in Korean: 20 examples explained

Giving compliments to guys in Korean might seem a bit tricky, but it becomes much simpler once you have some great phrases at your disposal for diverse situations.

This guide will teach you how to compliment a guy in Korean while providing a list of 20 Korean compliments for various situations.

How to compliment a guy's appearance in Korean

These compliments in Korean focus on a person's looks and are best suited for male colleagues, friends, and acquaintances with whom you share a personal connection.

These compliments are not suitable for someone who you need to be formal with, such as your boss or teacher — unless you already share a friendly rapport with them.

This Korean compliment lets your male acquaintance know how nice he looks today, due to his great sense of style.

If you want to compliment a close friend, simply change the suffix to the informal “좋다” (joh-ta) to say “오늘 스타일이 참 좋다” (Oneul seuta-il-i cham joh-ta)!

Did your male colleague recently change his hairstyle? Ask him about it and let him know it looks good on him. For friends, simply drop the 요 ‘yo’ at the end of each sentence to make it informal.

Notice a new piece of clothing on your male seonbae (senior)? Tell them their new clothes look cool and lead into it naturally by asking where they bought them first.

This is quite a direct compliment to tell a male acquaintance that they are very handsome which can be followed by telling them that they are your ideal type.

While it is not too common to be so direct with giving such compliments or when showing romantic interest in Korea, it could be suitable in certain situations, such as flirting online, or perhaps you can use the power of alcohol as a cute excuse for your forwardness.

In Korean, this is a common way to compliment someone's good looks, especially if you think they resemble a particular celebrity.

You can give this compliment to a male acquaintance, a friend, or a romantic interest. It indicates that they're very attractive due to their unique appearance or character.

Don’t worry if you are not attracted to them yourself, you can still use this compliment to someone even if you don’t have any romantic interest in them.

This Korean phrase can be used to compliment the appearance of someone who you just met, whose face gives the ‘impression of a kind and gentle person’ (insang).

Usually, older people tend to use such compliments more than younger people, but you can still use them to let someone know that you got a good impression from them.

This is a Korean compliment that can be used for guys who are muscular and fit and is an indirect way of saying that they have a great body.

This phrase can also be used to compliment a guy's body, particularly if he's naturally tall with broad shoulders.

Korean compliments for a guy's skills:

You may use the following Korean compliments for anyone — acquaintances, friends, or romantic interests. Some can also be used for your seniors such as your boss or teachers, as a way to create a positive impression. But be careful and learn to read the room because if you overdo it, you may just end up annoying them!

Remember to use the more formal suffixes when addressing your higher-ups. Those suffixes usually end with the longer “~ 세요” (seyo).

Has your male acquaintance just demonstrated a surprise skill that you didn’t know about such as baking a beautiful cake or building a computer from scratch? Let them know by commenting on how amazing it is to you.

Save this Korean compliment for those super multi-talented guys who are great at many different things at the same time, such as excelling professionally but also being able to speak multiple languages, and playing a musical instrument proficiently, while also being a fantastic tennis player. You get the idea.

This Korean compliment has a general scope, so it can be used in many situations where a guy has done something especially cool, such as scoring an amazing soccer goal, or perhaps generously offering to pay for dinner for your whole group of friends.

This Korean compliment is for those guys who you think are “Mr. Capable” (“Neunglyukja” in Korean), who are able to get difficult things done easily through their various skill sets or by having the right connections.

This Korean compliment can be used for guys that seem to have a great sense of intuition and usually say or do the right thing at the right time, such as giving that perfect compliment or gift.

This is one of the top qualities that Korean girls want from a guy, to have “senseu” because otherwise, they tend to be rather clueless to the subtle clues given to them and often end up saying or doing the wrong thing.

You can give this Korean compliment to your acquaintances who seem to be smart and diligent, and who you think are/ were good students in school.

This Korean compliment can also be given to the extra smart guys in your life by letting them know that you think they’re very intelligent.

It is not recommended to make such comments on intelligence for your bosses or teachers though as it is usually rather odd for a junior to make such a statement to a senior.

How to compliment a guy's character in Korean

Finally, we will look at some Korean compliments for a person’s character or personality. These are typically suited for your peers or friends and aren't generally used with elders or in formal relationships.

Use this Korean compliment for a guy who you think is hard-working and dedicated. Hard work is highly valued in Korean culture.

This is a great Korean compliment for a guy who seems to be a wonderful and dutiful child to his parents.

This Korean phrase is particularly suitable if you just found out that they recently treated their parents to a nice holiday or that they send money back home every month, etc. Being a “hyoja” is a very highly regarded character trait in Korea.

Let your Korean friend know that you think he is a kind and generous person with this compliment. It can be used for both old and new friends and even romantic interests when you want to express appreciation for how nice of a person they are.

This is a very strong Korean compliment that can be given to anyone you think has the character of an exemplary human being, such as someone who gives back to their community or does other commendable acts you think are worth praising.

If you want to compliment a close friend or people younger than you, you can use the term “훌륭한 사람” (hoollyoonghan sa-lam) instead of “훌륭한 분” (hoollyoonghan boon), because “분” (boon) is a more formal and respectful term for a person or “사람” (sa-lam).

And that wraps up the list of 20 compliments you can use for guys in Korean! Which one was your favorite?