How to write the date in Korean: A complete guide

If you’ve started taking Korean lessons onlineyou might wonder“How do Koreans write the date?” As you may already knoweach country writes the date in a different formatand it’s important to learn it correctly.

Todaywe’ll find out how to write the date in Korean and explore some useful expressions related to dates. We will also highlight some of the most significant dates to consider when learning about Korean culture.

Korean Date Format: Year-month-day

In most countriesthe date is usually written in either “Day-Month-Year” or “Month-Day-Year” order. Howeverin South Koreathe date follows a different format:

1. 년 (nyeon): Year
2. 월 (wol): Month
3. 일 (il): Day

Notice that to say a monthyou attach the words above to numbersas Koreans don’t have specific names for them like in English. Sofor exampleif we want to express July 6th2024we would say 2024 (년) 7 (월) 6(일).

You’ll need to know Sino-Korean numbers for the daymonthand yearand then the names for each day of the week. To learn the Sino-Korean numbersyou can check out our article on Korean numbers.

In the video below you can find a brief overview of how the date works in Korean and the correct pronunciation of date-related words.

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Nowlet’s break down each part of the date.

How to say the year in Korean

To express the year in Koreanlearning Sino-Korean numbers up to 1000 is essential.

The structure used to say the year might seem different for English speakers. In Englishwe often break down the year into two partssuch as “19” and “94” for 1994 – in Koreanit’s said in order of biggest to smallest number:

1000 + 100 + 10 + 1

For examplethis is the correct way to say the year 1994:

• 천 (cheon): A thousand
• 구백 (gu-baek): Nine hundred
• 구십 (gu-sip): Ninety
• 사 (sa): Four

Combining theseit becomes “1994년,” pronounced “천구백구십사년” (cheon gu-baek gu-sip-sa nyeon).

Howeverfor the year 2024you don’t need to mention the hundreds place:

• 이천 (i-cheon): Two thousand
• 이십 (i-sip): Twenty
• 사 (sa): Four

Sothe result would be “2024년,” pronounced “이천이십사년” (i-cheon i-sip-sa nyeon).

You can also abbreviate the years. For exampleto say 1994you would only need to use the Sino-Korean number for 94resulting in 94년pronounced “구십사년” (gu-sip-sa nyeon).

How to say the months in Korean

Months in Korean are easier to remember as you only need to use Sino-Korean numbers along with the word “월” (wol)which means “month.”

Here is a list of all the months in Korean:

Did you notice that the pronunciation changed for some months? For example1월 is pronounced “i-rol” instead of “il-wol.”

Alsofor June and Octoberthe way of writing the Sino-Korean number changes slightly to make pronunciation easier:

• Instead of “육월” (yuk-wol) for Junewe say “유월” (yu-wol)
• Instead of “십월” (sip-wol) for Octoberwe say “시월” (si-wol)

How to say the days in Korean

The days of the month in Korean follow a similar pattern: the Sino-Korean number followed by the word “일” (il)meaning “day.”

Here’s how you would pronounce the days of the month:

How to say the days of the week

Finallyto say the days of the week in Koreanyou would say:

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

The pronunciation of some days varies slightly due to the combination of the final consonant or “받침” with the next syllable. This rule applies to MondayThursdayand Sunday. In therewe would change the final consonants “ㄹ” from “l” to “r”and “ㄱ” from “k” to “g”.

Soinstead of pronouncing Monday as “wolyoil,” Thursday as “mokyoil,” and Sunday as “ilyoil,” we would say it as shown above.

You can also shorten the days of the week by removing “-요일” from the wordsimilar to abbreviating “MonTueWed” in English:

• 월 – Mon
• 화 – Tues
• 수 – Wed
• 목 – Thurs
• 금 – Fri
• 토 – Sat
• 일 – Sun

Check this video out to learn the correct pronunciation of the days of the week:

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Useful vocabulary related to the date

Let’s expand our Korean vocabulary with some useful words related to dates:

• 오늘 (oneul): Today
• 어제 (eoje): Yesterday
• 내일 (naeil): Tomorrow
• 엊그제 (eotgeuje): A day or two ago
• 내일모레 (naeilmore): The day after tomorrow
• 언제 (eonje): When
• 며칠 (myeochil): A few dayshow many dayswhat day
• 몇 월 (myeot-wol): How many monthswhat month
• 몇 년 (myeot-nyeon): How many yearswhat year
• N + 전 (jeon): Before + NN + ago
• N + 후 (hu): After + NN + later
• 날짜 (naljja): Date
• 올해 (olhae): This year
• 작년 (jangnyeon): Last year
• 내년 (naenyeon): Next year
• 주중 (jujung): Weekdays
• 주말 (jumal): Weekends

These words will come in handy when talking about dates in Korean conversations.

How to ask about the date in Korean

Now that you’ve learned the necessary vocabulary to express dateslet’s delve into common questions and expressions about them. If you also want to talk about timessee our guide on how to ask and tell time in Korean.

To ask about the date in Koreanyou’ll use the question word “몇” (myeot)meaning “how many” or “how much.”

For instanceif you want to inquire about today’s dateyou might ask:

• 오늘 며칠이에요? (oneul myochilieyo?): What is today’s date?
• 오늘은 2월 13일이에요 (oneul-eun i-wol sip-sam-ilieyo): Today is February 13th.

If you’re curious about the day of the weekyou can say:

• 오늘 무슨 요일이에요? (oneul museun yoilieyo?): What day is it today?
• 오늘은 금요일이에요 (oneul-eun geumyoilieyo): It’s Friday.

Let’s practice a few more useful sentences:

• 생일이 언제예요? (saengil-i eonjeyeyo?): When is your birthday?
• 내 생일은 9월 10일이에요 (nae saengil-eun gu-wol sib-ilieyo): My birthday is September 10th.
• 크리스마스가 언제예요? (keuriseumaseu-ga eonjeyeyo?): When is Christmas?
• 크리스마스는 12월 25일이에요 (keuriseumaseu-neun sib-i-wol i-sib-o-ilieyo): Christmas is December 25th.

Korean calendar

Did you know Korea has its own calendar? The Korean calendar is lunisolarwhich combines elements from lunar and solar calendars. Like other East Asian countriesit was originally adapted from the Chinese calendar. Some traditional holidays and age reckoning are still based on the Korean calendar:

• Seollal (설날): Seollalknown as the Korean New Yearis significant in Korean culture. It lasts three daysduring which families gather to honor their ancestors with rituals and memorial services.
• Daeboreum (대보름): Daeboreum is a day celebrated on the first full moon of the lunar new year. It’s a celebration to feel optimistic and start freshattracting good fortune.
• Chopail (초파일): Chopail is a special day in Korea that celebrates Buddha’s birthday. If you travel to South Koreayou need to check the “연등회” (yeondeunghoe)also known as the Lotus Lantern festival. It’s so important that even UNESCO has recognized it as part of Korea’s cultural heritage.
• Chuseok (추석): Chuseokalso known as Korean Thanksgivingis a three-day holiday when families gather to celebrate the autumn harvest and give thanks for abundance.

Let’s wrap up!

After going through this detailed guideyou should feel confident practicing dates in conversations during your Korean classes online and chatting with your Korean friends.

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