1 · Numbers, counters and time
Dates: months, days and weekdays
the calendar
Year, month, day, from large to small, all with Sino-Korean numbers — and two months that change their spelling.
A Korean date runs from large to small: year (년), month (월), day (일), then the weekday — 오월 십오 일 금요일, "Friday the fifteenth of May". All the numbers are Sino-Korean. The months are simply number plus 월, from 일월 to 십이월, and because they are names they are written as one word.
Two months break the pattern. June is not 육월 but 유월, and October is not 십월 but 시월: the final consonant of the number has dropped away, because the words are easier to say that way. These are the only two, and both the spelling and the pronunciation change.
The days of the month are a Sino-Korean number with 일: 일 일 (the first), 십오 일, 삼십일 일. To ask the date, say 며칠이에요? — always spelled 며칠, even though it looks as if it were 몇 plus 일. The month is asked with 몇 월, the weekday with 무슨 요일. The weekdays all end in 요일: 월요일, 화요일, 수요일, 목요일, 금요일, 토요일, 일요일.
"On" a day or "in" a month is 에: 금요일에, 오월에, 십 일에. The words for today, tomorrow and yesterday — 오늘, 내일, 어제 — take no 에, just as English says "tomorrow" and not "on tomorrow". English speakers also tend to look for an ordinal, "the fifteenth"; Korean simply says "fifteen day".
The form
| January to December | 일월부터 십이월까지 |
| June and October | 유월, 시월 |
| days of the month | 일 일, 십오 일, 삼십일 일 |
| weekdays | 월요일, 화요일, 수요일, 목요일, 금요일, 토요일, 일요일 |
| what date? what weekday? | 며칠? 무슨 요일? |
| a whole date | 오월 오 일 월요일 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
A date runs from large to small: month, day, weekday.
제 생일은 삼월 이십 일이에요.My birthday is the twentieth of March.
June is 유월 and October is 시월.
유월에 휴가를 가요.I am going on holiday in June.
The question for the date is 며칠, written as one word.
오늘이 며칠이에요?What is the date today?
On a day or in a month takes 에, but 오늘, 내일 and 어제 take none.
우리는 토요일에 만나요.We are meeting on Saturday.
The weekday is asked with 무슨 요일.
내일은 무슨 요일이에요?What day is it tomorrow?
A closer look
What the weekdays are named after
The seven weekdays are Sino-Korean words, each named after one of seven heavenly bodies or elements: 월 the moon, 화 fire, 수 water, 목 wood, 금 metal, 토 earth and 일 the sun. The same syllables turn up in other words — 일is also the day of the month월the month itself
When several are listed, the weekdays are often shortened to their first syllable: 월수금, "Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays", on a timetable or a gym schedule. Monday to Friday together are 평일, and 주말 is the weekend.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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you count days as a stretch of time rather than name a date
the native words 하루 (one day) and 이틀 (two days) are the usual ones; from three days on, 삼 일 and 사 일 are common too.
이틀 동안 부산에 있었어요.I was in Busan for two days.
Native words exist for three and four days as well, 사흘 and 나흘, but in everyday speech only 하루 and 이틀 have held their ground; from three on, most people simply count with 일.
How to spot it
- 월
- 일
- 요일
- 며칠
- 몇 월
- 무슨 요일
Example sentences
오늘은 시월 구 일이에요.Today is the ninth of October.
시험은 다음 주 수요일이에요.The exam is next Wednesday.
저는 칠월에 한국에 가요.I am going to Korea in July.
몇 월 며칠에 이사해요?On what date are you moving?
제 생일은 십이월 이십오 일이에요.My birthday is the twenty-fifth of December.
금요일 저녁에 시간 있어요?Are you free on Friday evening?
8 more example sentences
방학은 팔월에 끝나요.The holidays end in August.
월요일마다 운동해요.I exercise every Monday.
회의는 사월 삼 일 오전이에요.The meeting is on the morning of the third of April.
오늘은 무슨 요일이에요? — 목요일이에요.What day is it today? — Thursday.
저는 시월을 제일 좋아해요.October is my favourite month.
이월은 보통 이십팔 일까지 있어요.February usually has twenty-eight days.
택배가 십칠 일에 와요.The parcel is coming on the seventeenth.
일요일에는 가게가 문을 닫아요.The shop is closed on Sundays.
Worth knowing (1)
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The weekday comes last
Where English puts the weekday first, "Thursday the fifteenth of May", Korean adds it at the end of the date, after the day of the month. The order is the same on forms, letters and calendars.
내일은 오월 십오 일 목요일이에요.Tomorrow is Thursday the fifteenth of May.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
It looks like 몇 plus 일, but the word is spelled 며칠, always and in every meaning — "what date" as well as "a few days" (며칠 동안). Two words 몇 일 would be said [며딜], and nobody says that.
Large to small, all Sino-Korean — and June and October drop a sound: yuwol, siwol.
Your turn
9 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.