How to tell time in Korean (hours)

 First you might want to refresh yourself on Native Korean Numbers which are used to tell time (hours):

➡ How to remember Native Korean Numbers 

You might also what to know how counters work:  

➡ What the heck is a Korean counter? 

 

To tell time in Korean, we're using the Native Korean numbers plus the counter for hours which is 시.* (Probably no coincidence that the Korean word for time is "시간.")
 

( *Can't read Korean? I learned from this YouTube Video by Miss Vicky.)

 

With Native Korean numbers, let's look at all the hours (o'clock) of the day.

• 1 o’clock : 한 시
• 2 o’clock : 두 시
• 3 o’clock : 세 시
• 4 o’clock : 네 시
• 5 o’clock : 다섯 시   
• 6 o’clock : 여섯 시
• 7 o’clock : 이곱 시  
• 8 o’clock : 여덟 시 
• 9 o’clock : 아홉 시 
• 10 o’clock : 열 시 
• 11 o’clock : 열 한 시 
• 12 o’clock : 열 두 시 

Asking what time it is

To ask what time it is, you're going to see a very familiar sentence that we saw in the post about counters.

지금  몇 시예요?

 

Breakdown:

지금 (right now)

몇 (what) 

시 (counter for hours) 

예 (is)

요 (being casual, but polite)

 

Meaning: "What time is it now?" 

 

To answer, replace the 몇 with the number. Right now we're only looking at the o'clocks, so:

 

두 시예요.

 

Breakdown: 

두 (counter version of 2 in Native Korean numbers) 

시 (counter for hours) 

예 (is/are)

요 (being casual, but polite)

 

Meaning: "It's 2 o'clock." 

📓 Practicing telling time (hours only)

Read the question and answer with the prompted time.
Highlight over the blue blocks to check if you answered correctly. Or, check the answer key at the end.

(a.) 지금 몇 시예요? (6:00) 여섯 시예요.

(b.) 지금 몇 시예요? (8:00) 여덟 시예요.

(c.) 지금 몇 시예요? (10:00) 열 시예요.

(d.) 지금 몇 시예요? (12:00) 열 두 시예요.

(e.) 지금 몇 시예요? (11:00) 열 한 시예요.

 *If you are having trouble remembering the names of the numbers, you might want to go back to How to remember Native Korean Numbers  and practice first. 

 

To distinguish whether it is 8:00 in the morning or 8:00 at night, here are some time of day words:

• 아침 morning     (Native Korean word)
  (tip to remember: "A chim-ney sweep gets up early in the morning!")
  

  오전 : before noon/morning     (Sino-Korean word)
  (tip to remember: "Oh, Jon got up early this morning!") 

• 오후 : afternoon
  ("Oh, who has time this afternoon?")

• 저녁 : evening/late afternoon
  (Doesn't sound like an English word, but 저녁 means "dinner" and refers to hours 6-8pm.)

• 밤 : night
  (Bam! It's night time!") 

  
  

  To use them, just stick them in front of the hour:

  • 오전 열 시예요.
    (10:00 in the morning. / 10:00 am.)
    

  • 밤 열 시예요.
    (10:00 at night. / 10:00 pm.)
    

   

  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
   
  Disclaimer: Betsy is not fluent in Korean yet, so some of this stuff could be wrong. Please don't blame me if you fail a Korean quiz in your class. :D
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Answer key:
  

  (a.) 지금 몇 시예요? (6:00) 여섯 시예요.
  

  (b.) 지금 몇 시예요? (8:00) 여덟 시예요.

  (c.) 지금 몇 시예요? (10:00) 열 시예요.

  (d.) 지금 몇 시예요? (12:00) 열 두 시예요.

  (e.) 지금 몇 시예요? (11:00) 열 한 시예요.