How K-pop Groups Greet Fans in Korean: 저희는 ○○입니다

You've heard it a hundred times. The music stops, the members line up, someone counts, and the whole group shouts one sentence in perfect unison. Then they bow.

Here's the thing worth knowing: that greeting is a fixed formula with four parts, and three of those parts are ordinary Korean you'll use yourself. It isn't idol-speak. It's the standard Korean self-introduction — the one people give on their first day at a new job, at the start of a presentation, at a wedding — just shouted by eight people at once with a slogan bolted onto the front.

Once you can hear the four slots, you can understand any group greeting, including the ones from groups you've never listened to.

The four parts

I'll use an invented group, 하늘별, so we're not putting words in anyone's mouth. Put a real group's name in slot 3 and the pattern holds.

Put together, a full greeting sounds like this:

하나, 둘, 셋! 안녕하세요! 언제나 밝게 빛나는 하늘별입니다! One, two, three! Hello! We are Haneulbyeol, always shining brightly!

Note the order: in this pattern 안녕하세요 comes first, because the slogan has to sit right next to the group name, for a grammatical reason we'll get to in a second. (Some groups do shout a separate chant before 안녕하세요, but that chant is a standalone slogan, not a phrase attached to the name.)

Part 1: the count-in

Usually one member calls it, often the leader or the loudest one:

• 하나, 둘, 셋! — One, two, three!
• 하나, 둘! — One, two!

These are the native Korean numbers, not 일, 이, 삼. You'll never hear a group count itself in with 일, 이, 삼 — that set is for phone numbers, dates and prices. If the difference is still fuzzy, the rules for 하나, 둘 vs 일, 이 are worth ten minutes.

Parts 2 and 3: the 구호 and the name

구호 means a chant or slogan. This is the part that's different for every group, and it's the part fans memorize first. The shape is almost always the same: a descriptive phrase that ends in a modifier and runs straight into the group name.

• 안녕하세요, 언제나 밝게 빛나는 하늘별입니다! — Hello, we're Haneulbyeol, always shining brightly!
• 안녕하세요, 하나 되어 노래하는 하늘별입니다! — Hello, we're Haneulbyeol, singing as one!

Grammatically, 빛나는 and 노래하는 are verbs turned into modifiers with -는, describing the noun that follows — exactly like 좋아하는 노래 (a song I like) or 공부하는 학생 (a student who studies). A Korean listener hears the -는 and knows a noun is coming, which is why the group name lands so cleanly at the end.

That's also why you can't stick anything between the slogan and the name. 언제나 밝게 빛나는, 안녕하세요! is broken Korean — 빛나는 is left hanging with nothing to describe. Greeting first, slogan second, name last.

Some groups skip the 구호 entirely and just say 안녕하세요, 저희는 하늘별입니다. Newer groups tend to use one more; it's a rookie-era habit that some keep for years and some quietly drop.

The part that matters: 저희는 ○○입니다

This is the sentence to actually learn — the slogan-free version, the one you can use yourself.

• 안녕하세요, 저희는 하늘별입니다. — Hello, we are Haneulbyeol.

Two choices are being made here, and both are deliberate.

저희, not 우리. Both mean "we." 저희 is the humble version — you use it when the people listening deserve deference: an audience, a client, a teacher, an interviewer. 우리 is neutral and is what you'd use with friends. An idol group saying 우리는 하늘별입니다 on a music show wouldn't be wrong exactly, but it would sound flat and a little presumptuous, like a new employee introducing themselves to the whole company with their hands in their pockets. 저희 does the bowing before the bow.

입니다, not 이에요. 입니다 is 합쇼체, the formal polite style. 이에요/예요 is 해요체, the everyday polite style. On a stage, on camera, in front of strangers, Koreans go up to 합쇼체 — and so do idols. This is the same register as 감사합니다 and 잘 부탁드립니다.

When the setting gets smaller, the register drops. On a casual livestream to fans, the same person would say:

• 안녕하세요, 서준이에요. — Hi, it's Seojun.
• 와 주셔서 감사합니다. — Thank you for coming.

Still polite — idols essentially always use 존댓말 with fans — just 해요체 instead of 합쇼체. If you hear 입니다 you're watching something official; if you hear 이에요 you're watching something relaxed. That's a genuinely useful signal.

Part 4: the closing

After the name, one of these:

• 감사합니다! — Thank you!
• 잘 부탁드립니다. — Please look kindly on us. (Untranslatable, but it's what Koreans say when they're about to be in someone's care.)
• 많은 사랑 부탁드립니다. — Please give us lots of love.
• 열심히 하겠습니다! — We'll work hard!

Notice 드립니다 in two of them. 드리다 is the humble form of 주다 (to give) — literally "I give you a request." You'll also hear it when an MC calls a group on: 인사 부탁드립니다. — Please give us your greeting. Or from the group itself before they start: 인사드리겠습니다. — We'll give our greeting.

And at the end of a stage or a variety appearance, there's a matching sign-off:

• 지금까지 하늘별이었습니다. 감사합니다! — This has been Haneulbyeol. Thank you!

When they introduce themselves one by one

In interviews, each member goes around the circle. The formula shrinks:

• 안녕하세요, 하늘별의 리더 지호입니다. — Hello, I'm Jiho, the leader of Haneulbyeol.
• 안녕하세요, 하늘별의 막내 서준입니다. — Hello, I'm Seojun, the maknae of Haneulbyeol.

The 의 here is just "of." The role words — 리더, 막내, 메인보컬 — slot in before the name, and they're doing real social work in Korean; if you want the map of who outranks whom, see how 선배, 후배, 막내 and 리더 work.

One small trap: after 입니다, a Korean would often add 만나서 반갑습니다 (nice to meet you) — but idols on stage usually don't, because they're not meeting anyone individually. Save 반갑습니다 for actually meeting a person for the first time.

What a mistake sounds like

• 저희는 하늘별이에요 on a music show — not ungrammatical, just underdressed. Like showing up to a formal event in a hoodie.
• 나는 서준입니다 — mixing casual 나 with formal 입니다. Jarring. Use 저 with 입니다.
• 저희는 하늘별 입니다 with a space — 입니다 attaches to the noun. No space, ever.
• Introducing yourself alone as 저희는 — 저희 is plural. One person says 저는.
• Putting the slogan after 안녕하세요 and after the name — the -는 modifier needs its noun right behind it.

Practice

Fill in or fix each one. Group name: 하늘별. Member name: 서준.

1. Count the group in, out loud, with native numbers.
2. Write the full formal group greeting: hello + we are Haneulbyeol.
3. Seojun introduces himself in an interview as the maknae of the group.
4. Fix this: 우리는 하늘별이에요 (said at a formal award ceremony).
5. An MC asks the group to greet the audience. What does the MC say?
6. Put these in the right order: 하늘별입니다 / 안녕하세요 / 언제나 밝게 빛나는

Learn the 저희는 ○○입니다 line and a closing properly and you've got a self-introduction you can use at a language exchange, a job interview or the first day of a class — no stage required.