You usually say “잘 지냈어요?” to someone you haven’t seen in a while, like maybe a week or longer.

To respond to someone asking you this question, you can simply say yes and repeat it:

Breakdown

The more direct translation of “잘 지냈어요?” is “Have you been well?” 잘 means good/well, and 지냈어요 is the past tense conjugation of the verb 지내다, meaning to spend time. You can review my lesson on past tense conjugation here.

You may have come here looking for a way to say “How are you?” in Korean, but Koreans don’t have such a greeting! You wouldn’t say “잘 지냈어요?” to a stranger. The closest thing to “How are you?” in Korean is probably “밥 먹었어요?” which translates directly to “Did you eat?” It’s very common in China and Korea to ask if someone’s eaten as a greeting.

Read more about “밥 먹었어요?” here.