๐Ÿงบ Korean Market Vocabulary: Essential Words & Phrases for Shopping at ์‹œ์žฅ (Sijang)

The Korean word for โ€œmarketโ€ is ์‹œ์žฅ (si-jang).

From bustling traditional markets to modern street stalls, markets are a huge part of daily life in Korea. Whether you’re shopping for fresh produce, clothes, or snacks, learning Korean market-related vocabulary will help you shop like a local and communicate confidently with vendors.

In this post, youโ€™ll learn 80+ essential Korean market vocabulary words, phrases, and expressions you can use when shopping at markets in Korea. ๐Ÿฅฌ๐Ÿ’ฌ


๐Ÿช Types of Markets in Korean

KoreanPronunciationEnglish
์‹œ์žฅsi-jangMarket
์ „ํ†ต์‹œ์žฅjeon-tong-si-jangTraditional market
์žฌ๋ž˜์‹œ์žฅjae-rae-si-jangOld-style market
์•ผ์‹œ์žฅya-si-jangNight market
๋†์‚ฐ๋ฌผ ์‹œ์žฅnong-san-mul si-jangFarmer’s market
์ˆ˜์‚ฐ์‹œ์žฅsu-san-si-jangFish market
๋™๋Œ€๋ฌธ์‹œ์žฅdong-dae-mun-si-jangDongdaemun Market (famous in Seoul)
๋‚จ๋Œ€๋ฌธ์‹œ์žฅnam-dae-mun-si-jangNamdaemun Market (famous in Seoul)

๐Ÿง‘โ€๐ŸŒพ People & Places at the Market

KoreanPronunciationEnglish
์ƒ์ธsang-inVendor, seller
์†๋‹˜son-nimCustomer
๋…ธ์ ์ƒno-jeom-sangStreet vendor
์ ํฌjeom-poShop/stall
๊ณ„์‚ฐ๋Œ€gye-san-daeCash register
์ž…๊ตฌip-guEntrance
์ถœ๊ตฌchul-guExit
ํฌ์žฅ๋งˆ์ฐจpo-jang-ma-chaStreet food tent stall

๐Ÿ›’ Shopping & Buying in Korean

KoreanPronunciationEnglish
์‚ฌ๋‹คsa-daTo buy
ํŒ”๋‹คpal-daTo sell
์–ผ๋งˆ์˜ˆ์š”?eol-ma-ye-yo?How much is it?
๊นŽ์•„ ์ฃผ์„ธ์š”.kkak-a ju-se-yoPlease give me a discount.
๋„ˆ๋ฌด ๋น„์‹ธ์š”.neo-mu bi-ssa-yoItโ€™s too expensive.
์‹ธ์š”!ssa-yo!Itโ€™s cheap!
์ด๊ฒƒ ์ฃผ์„ธ์š”.i-geot ju-se-yoPlease give me this.
ํ˜„๊ธˆhyeon-geumCash
์นด๋“œka-deuCard
ํฌ์žฅํ•ด ์ฃผ์„ธ์š”.po-jang-hae ju-se-yoPlease wrap it up.
์˜์ˆ˜์ฆ ์ฃผ์„ธ์š”.yeong-su-jeung ju-se-yoPlease give me a receipt.

๐Ÿฅ• Food & Grocery Vocabulary

KoreanPronunciationEnglish
๊ณผ์ผgwa-ilFruit
์ฑ„์†Œchae-soVegetables
๊ณ ๊ธฐgo-giMeat
์ƒ์„ saeng-seonFish
ํ•ด์‚ฐ๋ฌผhae-san-mulSeafood
๋–กtteokRice cake
๋ฐ˜์ฐฌban-chanSide dish
๊น€์น˜gim-chiKimchi
๊ณ„๋ž€ / ๋‹ฌ๊ฑ€gye-ran / dal-gyalEgg
์Œ€ssalRice (uncooked)
๊ฐ„์žฅgan-jangSoy sauce
๊ณ ์ถ”์žฅgo-chu-jangRed chili paste

๐Ÿงฅ Clothes & Goods Vocabulary

KoreanPronunciationEnglish
์˜ทotClothes
์‹ ๋ฐœsin-balShoes
๊ฐ€๋ฐฉga-bangBag
์•ก์„ธ์„œ๋ฆฌaek-se-seo-riAccessories
์žฅ๋‚œ๊ฐjang-nan-gamToy
๊ทธ๋ฆ‡geu-reutBowl/dish
์ฃผ๋ฐฉ์šฉํ’ˆju-bang-yong-pumKitchenware
์ˆ˜๊ฑดsu-geonTowel
์„ ๋ฌผseon-mulGift

๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ Useful Korean Market Expressions

KoreanPronunciationEnglish
์‹œ์‹ํ•ด ๋ณด์„ธ์š”.si-sik-hae bo-se-yoTry a sample.
์„œ๋น„์Šค๋กœ ๋“œ๋ฆด๊ฒŒ์š”.seo-bi-seu-ro deu-ril-ge-yoIโ€™ll give this to you as a freebie.
๊ณจ๋ผ ๋ณด์„ธ์š”.gol-la bo-se-yoPlease pick one.
์ด๊ฑด ์ธ๊ธฐ ๋งŽ์•„์š”.i-geon in-gi man-a-yoThis is popular.
์ข€ ๋” ํฐ ๊ฑฐ ์žˆ์–ด์š”?jom deo keun geo iss-eo-yo?Do you have a bigger one?
๋ง›์žˆ์–ด์š”!mas-it-seo-yo!Itโ€™s delicious!
๋งค์›Œ์š”?mae-wo-yo?Is it spicy?
์˜ค๋Š˜ ํŠน๊ฐ€์˜ˆ์š”.o-neul teuk-ga-ye-yoTodayโ€™s special price.

๐Ÿ’ก Korean Market Tips

  • Donโ€™t be shy to haggle a little, especially at traditional markets!
  • Bring cash โ€” not all vendors accept cards.
  • Sampling is often allowed and encouraged.
  • Visit early in the morning for fresh produce.

๐ŸŽฏ Practice These Questions!

1๏ธโƒฃ How do you say โ€œHow much is it?โ€ in Korean?
2๏ธโƒฃ Whatโ€™s the Korean word for โ€œvendorโ€?
3๏ธโƒฃ What do you say if you want a discount?

Drop your answers in the comments or test your Korean with a friend!


๐Ÿ“š Want to Learn More?

โœ”๏ธ Essential Fitness Vocabulary
โœ”๏ธ Drinking at a Bar
โœ”๏ธ Airport Vocabulary


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