5+ Easy Ways To Tell Date And Time In Korean

Would you be able to tell someone the exact date and time in Korean? In this blog, we will walk you through the easiest and most interesting ways how you can express these pertinent pieces of information like a real native speaker. After all, it is impossible not to find an opportunity to talk about this topic, right? If that sits well with you, then let’s start learning.

Traditional Korean Calendar

Before we get into the details about the date and time in Korean, we would like to enlighten you slightly about the traditional Korean calendar. The word for the Korean calendar is 단군 (dangun).

The Korean people have a traditional calendar, a Lunisolar calendar, and thus is based on the movements of the sun and moon. Since Korean people have lived with Chinese people in the past, the language is widely spoken in various regions across the country. For this reason, there is no surprise why the two cultures are so unique yet so the same. One such similarity is also manifested in the calendars.

It is essential to know about the traditional calendar because many cultural festivals today are celebrated in Korea based on this calendar. The influence of this seems to be wavering off, but the older generation still takes these things quite seriously.

Each month in the Korean culture is associated with an animal. It is generally believed in South Korea that if a person is born on a particular day, they possess the qualities of the animal of their month.

Let’s learn the months in the Korean Calendar:

Telling Date In Korean

Days Of The Week

The word for day in Korean is 일 (il). Therefore, the seven days of the week in the Korean language are as follows:

Counter Words For The Days

The measure word or counter of the day in Korean is the same as the word for the day 일 (il). However, there is no such formula to say all the months in Korean. Some are random like 이틀 (iteur) for two days and 일순 (il-sun) for ten days. However, a general formula to understand this is “Sino-Korean Numbers+ 일.”

Let’s see how to tell about the period of days of the week:

Months In The Korean Language

Just like the gregorian calendar, there are twelve months in Korean. However, the writing and learning of the months are super easy because of a unique formula. The Korean people tend to use a sino-Korean number with the word for month 월 (wol) to indicate its month.

For example, the first month is January, and therefore, it is called 1월 (1-wol) or 일월 (il-wol). Here is a list of all the months in the Korean language:

Special Pronunciation

Have you ever heard Koreans say a word that might sound wrong because the same word seems to have a different pronunciation? Let us tell you a secret. The native speakers do not pronounce each month in the same manner as the native speaker writes them.

This could be an example of how the written Korean text is different from the usual speech of Koreans. Here is a table for you to understand how each month is pronounced in Korean:

Korean Words For Counting Months

In the Korean language, there are different measure words for each item. Unlike the English language, in which only “a” and “an” are used to give an idea about the number of the items, the Korean language has a specific particle for each word.

The counter or measure word for the month in Korean is 개 (gae). You can use this formula to talk about the number of months “Sino-Korean Numbers+개 (gae)+월”. Let’s see how to write each month in Korean with its counter word:

Years In Korean

The word for the year in Korean is 년도 (nyeondo), and its plural is 연령 (yeonlyeong).

Here is some useful vocabulary about the term year in Korean:

Telling Time In Korean

To tell the time in Korean, you need to know some essential words. For example, the word for an hour is 시 (si), a minute is 잠시 (jamsi) and a second is 초 (cho).

Counting Hours

Since there are 24 hours a day, let’s learn how to count each:

To count the minutes and seconds, you can use a number with the Korean words, and you’ll get your answer.

We have an entire blog on Telling time in Korean which you can check out to get in-depth information.

Useful Vocabulary

Since we are on the topic of date and time in Korean, we should give you a list of the most common and useful Korean words of South Korea. Let’s dig in!

Examples Using Korean Numbers

Important Dates in Korean

April 14 (14 일) is considered a black day in Korea. Did you ever think that you might get a day off (unofficially) to celebrate (more like cry-on) being single? Well, Korea never ceases to amaze anyone. In South Korea, a day off is celebrated by the single as a black day. People tend to eat their favorite Korean food but black noodles (jajangmyeon) are culturally more appropriate for this occasion.

This is like a treat that everyone gives themselves since they could not receive any present or surprise on Valentine’s Day (February 14) and White Day (14ths March). Therefore, the white day is celebrated to reciprocate all the love received on Valentine’s day in Korea.

Master A New Language With Ling App

For more vocabulary in the Korean language, we suggest you check out Ling App by Simya Solutions. Ling App is a great place to start your journey of learning Korean. You can keep checking our latest posts which can help you enhance your knowledge about the Korean language. We also have a previous lesson about Cultural Festivals in Korea. Some other blogs which you should check out are the Things to know before going to Korea and your ultimate guide to the TOPIK test.

Happy Learning!