Chapter Eight 

'What time is it?' in Korean - Guide to say clock hours and minutes in Korean.

So, many of you who are reading this will be wondering, how to say time in Korean, or how to ask 'what time is it?' in Korean. Time is 시간 in Korean. 

Don't worry. You're at the right place. By the end of this chapter, you'll be a pro. I guarantee. 

First of all, let me ask you one question. A simple one!

Have you memorized the numbers in Korean? If you haven't, don't worry. You can find it here. Make sure you memorize the numbers in Korean, at least till 12.  Okay?

So, in this chapter, we are gonna start with:

• What time is it?
• Telling hours
• Telling minutes
• Telling AM / PM
• Examples of each, i.e., of hours, minutes, AM, and PM.

What time is it?

How do you say 'what time is it' in Korean? 

This is a question to somebody, right?

So we have to make it a question, so how exactly we do that? 

몇 is basically used with 시, 명 (myeong), 개(gae), etc, to make sentences like, what time, how many people, how many things(objects) respectively.

So, 몇시 (myeotsi) is what we need. It means - what time? But this is incomplete without a question word, right? So what is our question word here? It is '입니까?' (ib-ni-kka). 

So our sentence or the question is ready.

Q. What time is it (now)?

In Korean, it is - 지금 몇시 입니까? (ji-geum myeotsi ibnikka?)

See, it's just a piece of cake!

Me: 지금 몇시 입니까?

You:?

What is your reply? Let's move on to the next section of this chapter.

Telling hours

For this part, we need the Native-Korean numbers we studied in the previous chapter. Telling hours is very easy for those who know the native Korean numerals. We add '시' with the numbers to make it into hours.

So, how can we tell the time in hours? Let's see

한시(han-si) - 1 o'clock

두시(doo-si) - 2 o'clock

세 시(se-si) - 3 o'clock

네 시(ne-si) - 4 o'clock

다섯시(daseot-si) - 5 o'clock

여섯시(yeoseot-si) - 6 o'clock

일곱시(ilgop-si) -7 o'clock

여덟시(yeodeolp-si) -8 o'clock

아홉시(ahop-si) -9 o'clock

열시(yeol-si) -10 o'clock

열한시(yeolhan-si) - 11 o'clock

열두시(yeodoo-si) -12 o'clock

Me: 지금 몇시 입니까? (ji-geum myeotsi ibnikka?)

You: 지금 여섯시예요. (ji-geum yeo-seot-si-ye-yo) Now it's 6 o'clock.

                        (or)

You: 지금 열한시예요.(ji-geum yeol-han-si-ye-yo) Now it's 11 o'clock.

Telling minutes

But sometimes the time cannot be expressed only in hours. Minutes are also there. And it is very important to know how to tell minutes in Korean while answering the 'what time is it?' question. So how do we say minutes in Korean? Minutes are 분 in Korean. 

Let's see.

For minutes, we use Sino-Korean numbers. Remember? 일, 이, 삼, 사......?

So how do we say 3:25?

We'll say, 세 시 이십오 분 (se-si isib-o-poon)

What about 11:43?

It is, 열한시 사십삼 분 (yeol-han-si sa-sib-sam-poon)

But, in case, if the time is, let's say, 4:30

How'll we say that?

4:30 can be said as 네 시 반.(ne-si pan)

반- means half or 30 minutes.

So, in case of 1:30, 5:30, 12:30, etc, we can use 반, after telling the hour.

Clear?

Telling AM / PM

In the case of time, AM and PM are also very important to know. In Korean also, there are two terms to express AM and PM. So, whenever you're telling the time, use AM /PM with it.

AM is 오전 (o-jeon)

PM is 오후 (o-hoo)

Me: 지금 몇시 입니까? (ji-geum myeotsi ibnikka?)

(Let's say the time is 9:28 AM)

How do you say that in Korean?

You: 지금 오전 아홉시 이십팔 분이에요. (ji-geum o-jeon ahop-si i-sib-pal poon-i-e-yo) It is 9:28 in the morning. 

Examples of each, i.e., of hours, minutes, AM, and PM

Let's look at some examples and practice.

Example 1:

Me: 한국어 시험은 몇시예요? (han-guk-o si-heom-eun myeot-si-ye-yo?) What time is the Korean exam?

You: 오전 열시 반이에요. (o-jeon yeol-si pan-i-e-yo) It's half past 10 in the morning.