뭐라고요? (mworagoyo?) — For When You Didn't Catch It, and When You Can't Believe It: The Question Koreans Ask Several Times a Day
뭐라고요?
뭐라고요? (mworagoyo?) is how you ask someone to repeat themselves — “Sorry, what did you just say?” — either because you didn’t hear them or because you can’t quite believe what you heard. When a subway announcement drowns out a voice, when the hair dryer at the salon kicks on, when the signal keeps cutting out on a phone call — it’s hard to get through a single day in Korea without hearing this phrase or saying it yourself. But here’s the interesting part: it also comes out in perfectly quiet rooms. That’s when your ears caught the words just fine but your head refuses to accept them — when “no way” jumps out ahead of everything else.
So this short little phrase does two jobs. One is signaling a listening failure. The sound didn’t reach you, so please say it one more time. The other is a marker of surprise and disbelief. You heard every word, but you can’t believe the content, so you make the other person confirm what they just said. Same four syllables, but the first one means “sorry, I didn’t catch that,” and the second is closer to “wait, what are you even saying right now?”
What separates the two isn’t the words — it’s the intonation. A short, light rise at the end means you purely didn’t hear. A long, drawn-out rise adds surprise (뭐라고요오—?). Say it slowly with the ending pitched down, on the other hand, and it becomes a protest: “say that again, I dare you.” This is where learners have the most accidents. If you only asked because you didn’t hear, and yet the other person’s face hardens — nine times out of ten, your intonation dropped at the end.
Look at the form and you’ll see the polite ending ‘-요’ attached, so it isn’t casual speech. That said, the ‘-요’ style is a soft, all-purpose politeness, so in settings that call for real formality — a job interview, an official meeting — it comes off a bit light. Think of it as a phrase that’s most at home in everyday polite situations: convenience stores, cafés, neighbors, phone support.
See It in a Real Conversation
The scene: moving day at Jun-kyung’s place. A ladder lift is roaring away outside the window, and the two of them are hauling boxes through the living room.
준경: 에밀리 씨, 그 상자는 깨지는 거니까 살살— Emily, that box has fragile stuff in it, so go easy—
에밀리: 네? 뭐라고요? 밖에 사다리차 소리 때문에 하나도 안 들려요. Huh? What did you say? I can’t hear a thing over that lift truck outside.
준경: 그 상자! 안에 그릇 들었다고! That box! I said there are dishes in it!
에밀리: 아, 그릇… 어? 근데 이거 아까부터 안에서 달그락거리는데요. Oh, dishes… wait. Something’s been rattling around in here this whole time.
준경: 뭐라고? 야, 그거 어제 새로 산 건데! What?! Hey, I just bought those yesterday!
에밀리: 농담이에요, 농담. 소리 나는 건 숟가락이고요. 놀라긴. I’m kidding, kidding. It’s just the spoons. Look at your face.
The first 뭐라고요? came out because she couldn’t hear; the second 뭐라고? came out because he was startled. The same phrase doing two different jobs inside one scene. Notice, too, that Jun-kyung used the casual 뭐라고?. They’re close, so casual speech slips into his side of the conversation, while Emily uses polite speech comparatively more often. That kind of imbalance is common between Koreans as well.
When It Sounds Off
✗ (to an interviewer, in a job interview) Interviewer: “지원 동기가 무엇인가요? (jiwon dongiga mueosingayo?)” — Applicant: 뭐라고요? ✓ (to an interviewer, in a job interview) 죄송합니다, 잘 못 들었습니다. 다시 한번 말씀해 주시겠어요? (joesonghamnida, jal mot deureotseumnida. dasi hanbeon malsseumhae jusigesseoyo?) → The grammar is perfectly fine, but the setting isn’t. Tossing out a ‘-요’ style question in a formal situation makes you sound unprepared. In official settings, it’s safer to lead with an apology and stretch the sentence out.
✗ (when the delivery driver says “문 앞에 두고 갈게요,” said with a low, falling ending) 뭐라고요. ✓ (same situation) 아, 네. 혹시 경비실에 맡겨 주실 수 있을까요? (a, ne. hoksi gyeongbisire matgyeo jusil su isseulkkayo?) → Use this phrase with a falling intonation when you don’t like what you heard, and it lands as a protest: “are you serious?” The other person assumes they said something wrong and goes on the defensive. If you have a complaint, don’t ask again — just say what you want. It comes across far more gently.
Example Sentences by Situation
1) Ordering in a noisy café — You asked about the coffee beans, but the espresso machine swallowed the answer. This is the most basic use: you want the barista to repeat themselves.
뭐라고요? 죄송해요, 소리가 커서 잘 못 들었어요. (mworagoyo? joesonghaeyo, soriga keoseo jal mot deureosseoyo.) — Sorry, what was that? It’s so loud in here, I couldn’t quite hear you.
It’s a good habit to tack on “잘 못 들었어요” at the end. It makes clear that you’re asking again because of the noise, not because of anything they said — so no matter what your intonation does, there’s no room for misunderstanding.
2) When a friend drops big news out of nowhere — You just heard they’re moving to Jeju next month. Here you’re asking again not because you missed it, but because you can’t believe it.
뭐라고요? 다음 달에요? 그걸 왜 이제 말해요? (mworagoyo? daeum dareyo? geugeol wae ije marhaeyo?) — What?! Next month? Why are you only telling me now?
Here it’s natural to stretch the ending upward and widen your eyes. Echoing back one piece of what you heard (“다음 달에요?”) makes the surprise reading much clearer.
3) When the phone call breaks up — You’re on the line with a government office or a customer service center, and a bad signal is garbling their words.
여보세요? 뭐라고요? 잠깐만요, 신호가 안 좋아서요. (yeoboseyo? mworagoyo? jamkkanmanyo, sinhoga an joaseoyo.) — Hello? Sorry, what was that? One second — the signal’s bad on my end.
On the phone, nobody can see your face, which makes it the easiest place for misunderstandings to happen. That one line, “신호가 안 좋아서요,” works as a shield.
Polite Speech, Casual Speech, and Similar Expressions
| Expression | Temperature / intensity | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| 뭐라고요? (mworagoyo?) | Neutral. Can reach surprise or protest depending on intonation | Everyday polite settings: shops, neighbors, phone calls |
| 뭐라고? (mworago?) | Relaxed. Sharpens when you’re startled | Between friends, family — anyone you speak casually with |
| 네? (ne?) | The softest and safest | Anywhere. A safe default even with people above you |
| 뭐요? (mwoyo?) | Edged. Almost picking a fight | Best avoided entirely |
| 다시 한번 말씀해 주시겠어요? (dasi hanbeon malsseumhae jusigesseoyo?) | Polite and calm | Interviews, meetings, customer service |
Scan the table top to bottom and one rule emerges: the shorter the sentence, the harsher it sounds; the longer it is, the softer it sounds. In Korean, politeness is largely built out of length. So the more senior the person or the more official the setting, the more you should stretch out your request to repeat.
Here’s the order I’d recommend for beginners. Default to 네? (ne?). If you’re sure you just didn’t hear and you’re comfortable with the person, use 뭐라고요?. In formal settings, use the whole sentence. As for 뭐요? — learn what it means and keep it out of your mouth.
Cultural Background — The Temperature of Asking Again
This expression is what’s left of the front half of a longer sentence. Take ‘뭐’, attach ‘-라고’ (the ending used when relaying someone else’s words), and lay the polite ‘요’ on top. Originally, “하셨어요?” or “했어요?” followed. In other words, it’s 뭐라고 하셨어요? (mworago hasyeosseoyo?) with its back legs cut off. And because the back half is gone, the job of carrying the meaning got handed over to intonation — which is exactly why the same four syllables can be an apology or a protest.
Watch enough Korean dramas and you’ll notice that this line almost always shows up in the same spot. A character hears news they can’t handle, the background music cuts out, and the camera pushes in on their face. Then, low and slow, they ask again. That kind of asking isn’t a request for the information again — it’s closer to a gesture of confirming, one more time, a world that just collapsed. A breakup, a death, a hidden family secret — the genre changes, but the way that one phrase breaks the silence is remarkably consistent.
The same holds in daily life. Koreans use these “say that again” phrases like a staircase with several steps. Starting from a gentle ‘네?’, moving through ‘뭐라고요?’, and up to ‘뭐요?’, the temperature rises with each step — and stepping wrong on that staircase can throw a relationship off for no reason at all. Know the staircase, though, and Korean suddenly gets easier. Once you can toss out “뭐라고요? 잘 못 들었어요” instead of freezing up in panic when you miss something, the conversation doesn’t break — it keeps rolling. Being good at a language doesn’t only mean understanding everything; it also means not falling apart when you don’t.
Today’s Quiz
Your department head said something in a meeting, but the air conditioner drowned it out and you didn’t catch it. What’s the most natural response?
- 뭐요?
- 뭐라고?
- 죄송합니다, 잘 못 들었습니다. 다시 한번 말씀해 주시겠어요?
Answer: 3. Option 1 sounds like you’re picking a fight, and option 2 is casual speech, so you can’t use it with someone senior to you. Leading with an apology and stretching the sentence out, as in option 3, is safe even in official settings. For the record, if this had been the coworker sitting next to you rather than your department head, a simple 뭐라고요? (mworagoyo?) would be plenty — just be sure to lift the ending lightly.
Definitions and example sentences are from the National Institute of Korean Language’s Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr); that portion of this post, including our translations, is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 KR.