1 · Numbers, counters and time
Telling the time: 세 시 이십 분
hours and minutes
Hours are counted with native numbers, minutes with Sino-Korean ones — in the same breath.
The hour takes native numbers and the word 시: 한 시, 두 시, 세 시 … 열두 시. The minutes take Sino-Korean numbers and 분: 오 분, 십 분, 삼십 분. So twenty past three is 세 시 이십 분, "three o'clock twenty minutes", with both sets in one phrase. Seconds, 초, are Sino-Korean too.
반, "half", can replace 삼십 분 and comes after the hour: 두 시 반. 전, "before", gives the minutes to the hour: 세 시 오 분 전 is five to three. 정각 means on the dot. 오전 (a.m.) and 오후 (p.m.) stand in front of the time, not after it — 오후 세 시 — and so do the everyday words 아침, 저녁, 밤 and 새벽 (the small hours).
To ask the time, say 지금 몇 시예요? To say at what time something happens, add 에: 몇 시에 만나요? — 세 시에 만나요. A length of time uses 시간 with native numbers, 두 시간 (two hours), while minutes stay the same as on the clock: 삼십 분 동안.
The usual slips are a Sino-Korean number for the hour (삼 시), a native number for the minutes, 반 placed before the hour as in "half three", and a missing 에 where English has "at". Timetables, stations and airports use the twenty-four-hour clock, and there all the numbers are Sino-Korean.
The form
| the hour: native numbers | 한 시, 두 시, 열두 시 |
| minutes: Sino-Korean numbers | 오 분, 십오 분, 사십 분 |
| 3:20 | 세 시 이십 분 |
| half past two | 두 시 반 |
| a.m. and p.m. | 오전 아홉 시, 오후 세 시 |
| at what time? | 몇 시에? |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
Hours take native numbers.
지금 네 시예요.It is four o'clock now.
Minutes take Sino-Korean numbers.
수업이 아홉 시 십 분에 시작해요.Class starts at ten past nine.
반 means half past and comes after the hour.
우리는 일곱 시 반에 만나요.We are meeting at half past seven.
오전 and 오후 stand in front of the time.
은행은 오후 네 시에 문을 닫아요.The bank closes at four in the afternoon.
At a time takes 에.
몇 시에 일어나요?What time do you get up?
A closer look
The twenty-four-hour clock and the small hours
Announcements, timetables and tickets use the twenty-four-hour clock, and then every number is Sino-Korean: 십팔 시 사십 분 for 18:40. In conversation nobody talks like that; people use the twelve-hour clock with 오전, 오후 or a word for the part of the day.
For the hours after midnight, Korean prefers 새벽 to 오전: two in the morning is 새벽 두 시. 밤 covers the late evening up to about midnight and often beyond it, and 낮 열두 시 makes clear that noon is meant and not midnight.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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a time is read off a timetable or a twenty-four-hour clock
the hour is Sino-Korean too: 십팔 시 for 18:00.
열차는 십팔 시 사십 분에 출발합니다.The train departs at 18:40.
A twenty-four-hour time is read like a number on a list. The native numbers belong to the twelve hours of the clock face.
How to spot it
- 시
- 분
- 반
- 몇 시
- 오전
- 오후
- 전
Example sentences
지금 세 시 이십 분이에요.It is twenty past three.
저는 보통 아침 일곱 시에 일어나요.I usually get up at seven in the morning.
영화는 여덟 시 반에 시작해요.The film starts at half past eight.
기차가 열한 시 오 분 전에 떠나요.The train leaves at five to eleven.
점심시간은 열두 시부터 한 시까지예요.The lunch break is from twelve to one.
지금 몇 시예요? — 두 시 십오 분이에요.What time is it? — A quarter past two.
8 more example sentences
은행은 오전 아홉 시에 문을 열어요.The bank opens at nine in the morning.
저는 밤 열한 시에 자요.I go to bed at eleven at night.
회의가 두 시 사십오 분에 끝났어요.The meeting finished at a quarter to three.
버스가 십 분마다 와요.The bus comes every ten minutes.
다섯 시 정각에 출발해요.We leave at five o'clock sharp.
비행기가 새벽 세 시에 도착했어요.The plane arrived at three in the morning.
공연은 두 시간 동안 해요.The show lasts two hours.
저녁은 여섯 시 반쯤 먹어요.We have dinner at about half past six.
Worth knowing (1)
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A point and a stretch: 시 and 시간
세 시 is a point on the clock, three o'clock; 세 시간 is a length of time, three hours. Both use native numbers, and the only difference is the word after them.
세 시부터 세 시간 공부했어요.I studied for three hours from three o'clock.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The minutes are Sino-Korean, so it is tempting to use the same set for the hour. But the hour on a clock face is always native: 세 시. Only a twenty-four-hour time on a timetable is read with Sino-Korean numbers.
Native for the hour, Sino-Korean for the minute: se si isip bun.
Your turn
9 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.