56. Expressions of time and space in Korean

This chapter of our Basic Korean e-book course is dedicated to a very important aspect of the language: the expressions of time and space. Learning these expressions is key to communicating effectively in Korean, as they allow you to indicate when and where things are happening.

Time Expressions

In Korean, there are several ways to express time. Let's start with the days of the week. In Korean, the system is quite logical, with each day of the week ending with the character 요일 (yoil), which means 'day of the week'. For example, 월요일 (wol-yoil) means Monday, 화요일 (hwa-yoil) means Tuesday, and so on.

When it comes to months, Korean is also quite logical. Each month of the year is simply the month number followed by 월 (wol) which means 'month'. For example, 1월 (il-wol) is January, 2월 (i-wol) is February, and so on.

Years are expressed in a similar way, with the year number followed by 년 (nyeon), meaning 'year'. For example, 2021년 (i-cheon-i-sip-il-nyeon) is the year 2021.

To express the time of day, we use 시 (shi), which means 'hour'. For example, 1시 (han-shi) is 1 hour, 2시 (du-shi) is 2 hours, and so on. For minutes, we use 분 (bun), and for seconds, we use 초 (cho).

Space Expressions

In Korean, space expressions are used to indicate where something is located. There are several prepositions of place you need to know.

To express 'in' or 'in', we use 에 (and). For example, 서울에 (seoul-e) means 'in Seoul'.

To express 'to', we use 로 (ro) or 으로 (euro), depending on the last vowel of the previous word. For example, 학교로 (hakgyo-ro) means 'to school'.

To express 'from', we use 에서 (eseo). For example, 집에서 (jib-eseo) means 'from the house'.

To express 'under' we use 아래 (arae), for 'over' we use 위 (wi), for 'next to' we use 옆 (yeop), and for 'inside' we use 안 (an).

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Conclusion

Korean time and space expressions are logical and consistent, which makes them relatively easy to learn. However, as with any language, practice is the key to fluency. Therefore, we recommend that you practice using these expressions regularly to become familiar with them.

We hope that this chapter has given you a good understanding of Korean time and space expressions. In the next chapter, we'll explore the counting system in Korean. Until then, keep studying and practicing!

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