How to Tell Time in Korean: Hours, Dates and Questions

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Let’s learn how to tell time in Korean! Talking about time is a basic skill you’ll use often, so I’ll teach you the essentials in this article.

If you’re a beginner, we’ll start with reviewing Korean numbers, and then move on to telling time and dates. Then you’ll learn some important phrases so you can make and stick to appointments and meetups!

If you’re wondering what time it is in Korea, Korea Standard Time (KST) is UTC+9. That fixed offset is more useful than comparing it with a North American time zone, where daylight saving can change the difference.

Does Korea use a 12- or 24-hour clock? You’ll see both. Everyday speech often uses 12-hour expressions, while timetables and other formal schedules also use 24-hour notation.

Time’s a wastin’!

How to Say “Time” in Korean

“Time” in Korean is 시간 (sigan). “Hour” in Korean is also 시간 (sigan) or 시 (si). 시간 (sigan) is used for length of time, whereas 시 (si) is used to mark an hour (“o’clock”).

Here are some more Korean time words to know:

• Minute: 분 (bun)
• Half; half past in a clock time: 반 (ban)
• Second: 초 (cho)
• Day or date counter: 일 (il)
• Week: 주 (ju); one-week period: 주간 (jugan)
• Calendar month: 월 (wol)
• Year counter: 년 (nyeon)
• AM: 오전 (ojeon)
• PM/afternoon: 오후 (ohu)
• Dawn/early morning: 새벽 (saebyeok)
• Morning: 아침 (achim)
• Noon: 정오 (jeongo)
• Lunch/lunchtime: 점심 (jeomsim)
• Evening: 저녁 (jeonyeok)
• Night: 밤 (bam)
• Midnight: 자정 (jajeong)

How to Tell Time in Korean: Review Korean Numbers

How to write time in Korean depends on knowing the Korean number systems! Yes, that’s right – systems. Korean has two, the Native Korean numbers and the Sino-Korean numbers.

I explained all this in-depth in our guide to Korean numbers, but here’s a quick review of 1 – 12.

Sino-Korean numbers:

• 1: 일 (il)
• 2: 이 (i)
• 3: 삼 (sam)
• 4: 사 (sa)
• 5: 오 (o)
• 6: 육 (yuk)
• 7: 칠 (chil)
• 8: 팔 (pal)
• 9: 구 (gu)
• 10: 십 (sip)
• 11: 십일 (sibil)
• 12: 십이 (sibi)

And the Native Korean numbers:

• 1: 하나 (hana); before 시, 한 (han)
• 2: 둘 (dul); before 시, 두 (du)
• 3: 셋 (set); before 시, 세 (se)
• 4: 넷 (net); before 시, 네 (ne)
• 5: 다섯 (daseot)
• 6: 여섯 (yeoseot)
• 7: 일곱 (ilgop)
• 8: 여덟 (yeodeol)
• 9: 아홉 (ahop)
• 10: 열 (yeol)
• 11: 열하나 (yeolhana); before 시, 열한 (yeolhan)
• 12: 열둘 (yeoldul); before 시, 열두 (yeoldu)

So here’s where things get a bit tricky at first. Use Native Korean numbers before 시 for clock hours, and remember that several numbers change form before this counter. Use Sino-Korean numbers before 분 and 초, and for calendar dates, months and years. Don’t stretch that into a rule for every duration: Korean also uses forms such as 이틀 (“two days”), 두 주 (“two weeks”) and 석 달 (“three months”).

Korean Time Grammar: What You Need to Know

Okay, so how do we put all this together?

Let’s start with hours. First, you’ll combine your Native Korean number with the word for hour, 시 (si). Here are some examples:

• 1 o’clock: 한 시 (han si)
• 5 o’clock: 다섯 시 (daseot si)
• 12 o’clock: 열두 시 (yeoldu si, the counter form of 열둘)

Got the hang of it? Cool. Now let’s try out minutes. This time, we’ll be using the Sino-Korean numbers:

• 10 minutes: 십 분 (sip bun)
• 15 minutes: 십오 분 (sibo bun)
• 30 minutes: 삼십 분 (samsip bun) or 반 (ban, “half”)
• 45 minutes: 사십오 분 (sasibo bun)

Remember, we stack the numbers to create what we need. So “40” is “4 + 10” and “15” is “10 + 5”.

Now let’s put it all together:

• 1:10: 한 시 십 분 (han si sip bun)
• 5:15: 다섯 시 십오 분 (daseot si sibo bun)
• 7:30: 일곱 시 반 (ilgop si ban) or 일곱 시 삼십 분 (ilgop si samsip bun)
• 12:45: 열두 시 사십오 분 (yeoldu si sasibo bun)

Now for a bit of the grammar. If you want to add “AM” or “PM”, it needs to go before the time, not after. For example:

• 1:10pm: 오후 한 시 십 분 (ohu han si sip bun)
• 5am: 오전 다섯 시 (ojeon daseot si)

You’ll use the Korean particle 에 (e) if you want to talk about a time when something happens. Like this:

오전 9시에 일하러 가요.
Ojeon ahop si-e ilhareo gayo.
“I go to work at 9am.”

Talking About Days, Weeks, Months and Years in Korean

Now that we can tell time, let’s talk about bigger units of time: days of the week and dates on a calendar.

The months of the year are:

• January: 일월 (irwol)
• February: 이월 (iwol)
• March: 삼월 (samwol)
• April: 사월 (sawol)
• May: 오월 (owol)
• June: 유월 (yuwol)
• July: 칠월 (chirwol)
• August: 팔월 (parwol)
• September: 구월 (guwol)
• October: 시월 (siwol)
• November: 십일월 (sibirwol)
• December: 십이월 (sibiwol)

You may notice that the months are just the Sino-Korean number + 월, wol, for months.

The days of the month are the same. They’re the Sino-Korean number + 일, il:

• 1일, iril: First of the month
• 10일, sibil: Tenth of the month
• 25일, isiboil: Twenty-fifth of the month

For years, you’ll use numbers here as well. “Thousand” in Korean is 천, cheon. And “hundred” is 백, baek.

• 1999: 1999년 in writing, read 천구백구십구 년, cheon gubaek gusipgu nyeon
• 2022: 2022년 in writing, read 이천이십이 년, icheon isibi nyeon

And the days of the week are:

• Monday: 월요일 (woryoil)
• Tuesday: 화요일 (hwayoil)
• Wednesday: 수요일 (suyoil)
• Thursday: 목요일 (mogyoil)
• Friday: 금요일 (geumyoil)
• Saturday: 토요일 (toyoil)
• Sunday: 일요일 (iryoil)

(By the way, we have a whole guide to days of the week in Korean if you want to learn more!)

When you put it all together, you’ll write the year first, then the month, then the day and day of the week. So it’ll look like this:

오늘은 2022년 5월 4일 수요일이에요.
Oneureun icheon isibi nyeon owol sail suyoirieyo.
“Today is Wednesday, May 4th, 2022.”

Lastly, here are some helpful time-related vocab for talking about days, weeks, months, and years:

• Today: 오늘, oneul
• Tomorrow: 내일, naeil
• Yesterday: 어제, eoje
• Day after tomorrow: 모레, more
• Two days ago: 이틀 전, iteul jeon
• This week: 이번 주, ibeon ju
• Last week: 지난주, jinanju
• Next week: 다음 주, daeum ju
• The week after next: 다다음 주, dadaeum ju
• Two weeks ago: 두 주 전, du ju jeon
• This year: 올해, olhae
• Next year: 내년, naenyeon
• Last year: 작년, jagnyeon
• In two years: 이 년 후, i nyeon hu
• Two years ago: 이 년 전, i nyeon jeon
• Now: 지금, jigeum
• Before: 전에, jeon-e
• Later: 나중, najung
• Earlier: 더 일찍, deo iljjik

Time-Related Questions in Korean

You’ve learned how to talk about time and dates now, so now you need to know how to ask about time! These common questions will be good ones to memorize.

With a friend, you can ask 지금 몇 시지? (jigeum myeot siji?), “What time is it right now?” In most everyday polite situations, use 지금 몇 시예요? (jigeum myeot siyeyo?). You can drop 지금 (jigeum) and simply ask 몇 시예요? (myeot siyeyo?), “What time is it?”

Here are some other questions you might want to ask:

• “What time shall we meet?” (polite): 몇 시에 만날까요? (myeot si-e mannalkkayo?)
• “What time is the concert?” (formal): 콘서트는 몇 시입니까? (konseoteu-neun myeot siimnikka?)
• “What time is…?” (formal): …몇 시입니까? (myeot siimnikka?)
• “When?”: 언제 (eonje)
• “When is it?” (polite): 그게 언제예요? (geuge eonjeyeyo?)
• “When is your birthday?” (polite): 생일이 언제예요? (saengiri eonjeyeyo?)
• “When do you go to work?” (polite): 언제 일하러 가요? (eonje ilhareo gayo?)

For “the whole time”, you can use 내내 (naenae). For example, 내내 일했어요 (naenae ilhaesseoyo) means “I worked the whole time.” For “all day”, use 종일 (jongil).

Another useful time-related expression is “long time no see”. Say 오랜만이에요 (oraenmanieyo) in polite conversation, or 오랜만이야 (oraenmaniya) casually with a close friend.

Time to Wrap Up This Korean Lesson

You did it! You learned how to tell time in Korean. Here’s a quick review:

• Clock hours use Native Korean numbers before 시.
• Minutes and seconds use Sino-Korean numbers; calendar dates, months and years do too.
• “AM” and “PM” come before the time, not after.
• Use 반 (ban) after the hour to mean “half past”.
• Dates follow [year] [month] [day of month] [weekday].
• Ask “What time is it?” politely with 지금 몇 시예요? (jigeum myeot siyeyo?)
• “When is it?” is 그게 언제예요? (geuge eonjeyeyo?)

Now the most important thing to do is practice! It can be hard to remember the switch from Native Korean hours to Sino-Korean minutes, but repetition helps it stick.

Practice telling yourself the time. Write the date and time in Hangul. The more you use these patterns, the more automatic they’ll feel.

Ready to learn more? Here are some other Korean guides to level up with:

If you want guided audio practice alongside these guides, our KoreanClass101 review explains where the course is useful and where you’ll still want a separate grammar resource.

• 111 Core Korean Words to Learn First
• A Beginner’s Guide to Korean Grammar
• How to Learn the Korean Alphabet and Write in Korean
• How to Learn with Korean Songs: Learn Korean Through Music
• 101 Must-Know Korean Verbs to Boost Your Vocabulary