Audio is active. Tap 🔊 on any Korean word or sentence to hear it spoken aloud. Use this to train your ear alongside reading.
Lesson Objectives
- Learn all 7 days of the week and the pattern behind their names
- Know all 12 months using Sino-Korean number roots from Lesson 14
- Master 8 key calendar time words: 오늘 어제 내일 모레 이번 주 다음 주 주말 평일
- Build complete date expressions: year · month · day + day of week
- Say and understand dates, appointment times, and weekly schedules in Korean
Using Lesson 14's numbers directly
Months in Korean are completely regular — January is literally "one-month" (일월), February is "two-month" (이월), all the way to December "twelve-month" (십이월). If you know your Sino-Korean numbers 1–12, you already know all 12 months. Today's lesson is about connecting that knowledge to the calendar and adding the time words around it.
Seven days — each one named after a celestial body
Korean days of the week are based on the ancient East Asian system of five elements plus the Sun and Moon. Each day name ends in 요일 (yo-il) meaning "day of the week". Learn the 7 stems — 요일 just attaches to all of them.
월 (月 moon) · 화 (火 fire/Mars) · 수 (水 water/Mercury) · 목 (木 wood/Jupiter) · 금 (金 metal/Venus) · 토 (土 earth/Saturn) · 일 (日 sun)
These are the same characters used in Chinese and Japanese weekday names. The system is shared across East Asia — you'll recognise the pattern if you ever study Japanese (月曜日 = Getsuyōbi = Monday).
👆 Tap each day to see its meaning and romanization
Sino-Korean number + 월 (月) = month name
Every month is formed by placing its Sino-Korean number in front of 월 (wol, meaning "month" / "moon"). No irregular forms, no exceptions. 1월 through 12월 — a completely regular system.
👆 Tap each month to reveal the romanization and English name
6월 → 유월 (not 육월) — 육 + 월 blends to 유월 in natural speech. Written as 6월, pronounced 유월.
10월 → 시월 (not 십월) — 십 + 월 contracts to 시월. Written as 10월, pronounced 시월.
All other months are perfectly regular. Just these two need special attention.
오늘의 단어 — Time words for the calendar
Today's 15 words cover the time-relative vocabulary you need to talk about when things happen. Tap each card to expand.
👆 Tap any card to expand
Total words in your active deck
90 words. You're past the first vocabulary milestone — enough language to talk about time, schedule meetings, state dates, and describe your week. The language is mapping onto real life.
The full date formula — year, month, day, weekday
The 3-point time reference system
Korean has a tidy three-point system for both days and weeks. Learn these words together — they form a logical set.
👆 Tap each card to reveal English and romanization
어제, 오늘, 내일 — visualised
A snapshot of a week. The three key days are highlighted — say each word aloud before reading the label.
한글날 · Chuseok · 설날 — Korea's Calendar Anchors
Korea's national holidays give the calendar its emotional texture. 설날 (Seollal, Lunar New Year) falls on 음력 1월 1일 — the first day of the lunar calendar's first month, usually in late January or February. Families travel home across the country; it's Korea's busiest travel period. 추석 (Chuseok, Harvest Festival) falls on 음력 8월 15일 — the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, roughly equivalent to a harvest thanksgiving. Both holidays use the 음력 (lunar calendar), which runs alongside the standard 양력 (solar/Gregorian calendar) in Korean life.
한글날 (Hangeul Day) is 10월 9일 — October 9th — commemorating King Sejong's proclamation of the Korean alphabet in 1446. It's a public holiday. If you're studying this course, 한글날 is your day. 축하해요!
📚 Lesson 17 Homework
Before Lesson 18…
Write all 7 days of the week from memory with their celestial meanings: 월(Moon) 화(Fire) 수(Water) 목(Wood) 금(Metal) 토(Earth) 일(Sun). Then write all 12 months — number + 월. Remember 유월 and 시월.
Say today's full date in Korean: [month]월 [day]일 [weekday]요일. Then say yesterday's date and tomorrow's date the same way. Do this every morning — it costs 20 seconds and locks in the calendar vocabulary completely over time.
Write the three time-reference ladders from memory:
그저께 → 어제 → 오늘 → 내일 → 모레
지난 주 → 이번 주 → 다음 주
작년 → 올해 → 내년
Add today's 15 words to your flashcard deck. The ones most likely to appear in TOPIK 1 reading passages: 오늘, 내일, 어제, 주말, 평일, 매일, 생일. Prioritise those seven.
Lesson 18 preview: Your first proper grammar lesson — the topic particle 은/는 and the copula 이에요/예요 (is/am/are). You've been seeing these in example sentences since L12. L18 explains exactly how they work and why. The sentence pattern 저는 학생이에요 will finally make complete sense as a grammatical structure.