# 함께 vs. 같이



## higginp7

I am writing notes for my new students who have very little English; what is more appropriate when writing a note from English teacher to a young child?

*우리 함께 즐겝게 놀고 배울 거예요*

or

*우리 같이 즐겝게 놀고 배울 거예요*

We'll have fun and learn together.

***즐겁게


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## boomluck

For me, I don't know why, but it sounds more natural to say like 우리*는* 함께 즐겁게 놀고 배울 거예요. Without 는, I would say like 우리 함께 즐겁게 놀고 배워요. Let's have fun and learn together. 

함께 and 같이 both are fine to me. However, Naver Korean Dictionary would prefer 같이. 

The dictionary introduces many example sentences. It says that 함께 and 같이 both are usually used with '~과/와.' For example, 친구와 같이, 동생과 함께, 형과 같이, 아버지와 함께, etc. But there is some sentences of 같이 without '~과/와.' Examples are : 모두 같이 갑시다. 어제 같이 저녁 먹은 사람이 누구지? This gives me the idea that 같이 can be used independently whereas 함께 doesn't show any clues.

So, I vote for 같이.


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## miyuS

I think 우리 함께 즐겁게 놀고 배울 거에요 is more natural. and if you wanna use the word 같이, i think 우리 다 같이 즐겁게 놀고 배울 거에요 could be natural. 
I think 함께 is commonly used when you wanna talk to whole people in the big group. it's close to 'all (people) together' 
In daily situation we usually use 같이 when you talk to your friend, family.
but in the community, and social group, i think we use 함께 more.


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## BloodBird

같이 and 함께 have a similar meaning to "together".
However, 같이 is a more common term and 함께 is a relatively local term.

I will explain it in more detail.
같이 means "together" but sometimes means "like".
ex) He ran "*like*" the wind.
그는 바람"*같이*" 달렸다.

It also combines with nouns to form numerous adjectives.
ex) His personality "*like* the fire".
그의 성격은 "불*같다*".

함께 means "together" and It also means potentially "at the same time" "all at once".

And young people don't say "함께" very well.
It is a little awkward to say with mouth. It's a close expression to a written language.

Last thing you need to know, I am Korean and I do not speak English well.
Sorry for my poor English and I hope my explanation is easy for you to understand.


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## Rance

BloodBird said:


> 같이 and 함께 have a similar meaning to "together".
> However, 같이 is a more common term and 함께 is a relatively local term.



It's actually not true.
If you google for 같이 and 함께, you can tell 함께 has twice as much hit than 같이.



miyuS said:


> I think 우리 함께 즐겁게 놀고 배울 거에요 is more natural. and if you wanna use the word 같이, i think 우리 다 같이 즐겁게 놀고 배울 거에요 could be natural.
> I think 함께 is commonly used when you wanna talk to whole people in the big group. it's close to 'all (people) together'
> In daily situation we usually use 같이 when you talk to your friend, family.
> but in the community, and social group, i think we use 함께 more.



However like miyuS suggest, there is some tendency to prefer 함께 when referring to bigger people. (Maybe influence of church? They tend to use the term 함께 over 같이).

However there should be no difference in meaning nor in usage.



boomluck said:


> The dictionary introduces many example sentences. It says that 함께 and 같이 both are usually used with '~과/와.' For example, 친구와 같이, 동생과 함께, 형과 같이, 아버지와 함께, etc. But there is some sentences of 같이 without '~과/와.' Examples are : 모두 같이 갑시다. 어제 같이 저녁 먹은 사람이 누구지? This gives me the idea that 같이 can be used independently whereas 함께 doesn't show any clues.



"모두 함께 갑시다" is perfectly fine expression. 
So does the expression, "어제 함께 저녁 먹은 사람이 누구지?".
However it's possible younger generation may perceive them differently like BloodBird suggested.
After all, a language will continue to evolve unless none uses.


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## BloodBird

Rance said:


> It's actually not true.
> If you google for 같이 and 함께, you can tell 함께 has twice as much hit than 같이.
> 
> 
> 
> However like miyuS suggest, there is some tendency to prefer 함께 when referring to bigger people. (Maybe influence of church? They tend to use the term 함께 over 같이).
> 
> However there should be no difference in meaning nor in usage.
> 
> 
> 
> "모두 함께 갑시다" is perfectly fine expression.
> So does the expression, "어제 함께 저녁 먹은 사람이 누구지?".
> However it's possible younger generation may perceive them differently like BloodBird suggested.
> After all, a language will continue to evolve unless none uses.



함께 is close to the literary style, 같이 is close to the colloquial style.
So if you search on Google, you will get a lot of "함께 than "같이"
Think about it. No young people in Korea will say "함께 할래?" They just say, "같이 할래?"

It is a not nice attitude to simply access the data such as the number of Google search results on something.
Google does not tell you everything.


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## cherine

BloodBird said:


> It is a not nice attitude to simply access the data such as the number of Google search results on something.
> Google does not tell you everything.


It's not a matter of attitude, nor did anyone say that Google tells everything, but it does help sometimes to give an idea about which usage is more common. So, unless you have a different source of information, many Korean leaners will rely on such statistics to get an idea about common usage.


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