Today Is August 15
오늘은 8월 15일이에요 [Oneureun parweol shibo irieyo.]

Days, Dates, and Seasons

In Korea, as in most Western countries, people with office jobs work Monday through Friday and have Saturday and Sunday off. So for many people, Friday evening is a happy time. If you’re hoping to ask someone out on a date in Korea, plan a Friday night engagement and you’re likely to hear “yes.” But before you can do that, you need a firm grasp on how Koreans refer to the days of the week.

First we have the relative terms used to indicate days: 오늘 [oneul] (“today”), 어 게 [eoje] (“yesterday”), and 내 일 [naeil] (“tomorrow”). Not too hard. And then what about going a little further into the past and future? We do this in English by saying “the day before yesterday” and “the day after tomorrow,” but Korean has original words for each of these: 그저 께 [keujeokke] and 모레 [more], respectively. So a five-day timeline looks like this:

So let’s say, for you fellows out there, that you meet a beautiful Korean girl at a cafe. You’re so blown away by her beauty that you can’t even remember what day of the week it is! Wow! You’d better ask her. Let’s see. Well, the Korean word 요일 [yoil] has the meaning of “day of the week.” So what word do you use to ask “what” day of the week it is? 몇 No, remember 몇 is only used to ask about things that are number-related. Come on, I mentioned the correct answer briefly last chapter. Hurry! She’s losing interest…yes! 무슨 is the one.

오늘 무슨 요일이에요 [Oneul museun yoirieyo?] What day of the week is it?

Okay, even though this is a pretty silly question, I’m sure she’ll answer you kindly because she’s a nice person. Uh-oh, but if you don’t understand what she says, how are you going to keep the conversation going!? We’d better learn how to say all the days of the week, and fast. Here we go!

Monday: 월요일 [weoryoil]

Tuesday: 화요일 [hwayoil]

Wednesday: 수요일 [suyoil]

Thursday: 목요일 [mogyoil]

Friday: 금요일 [keumyoil]

Saturday: 토요일 [toyoil]

Sunday: 일요일 [iryoil]

Notice how all these names include a unique first syllable followed by the word for “day of the week.” Very simple and practical, don’t you think? But don’t let me interrupt—she’s answering:

목요일이에요. [Mogyoirieyo.] It’s Thursday.

Okay, this is great, but you don’t want to stand around practicing saying the days of the week in Korean with this girl, do you? Come on. Go ahead and ask her if she’s busy Friday night:

내일 저녁에 시간 있으세요 [Naeil cheonyeoge shigan isseuseyo?] Do you have any time tomorrow night?

Nice job! I hope you get to hang out and talk world peace and interpret each other’s dreams through a psychoanalytical perspective. ^^ Or, of course, she could say this:

내일은 약속이 있어요. [Naeireun yaksogi isseoyo.] I have a prior engagement tomorrow.

Bummer.

Spring, summer, fall, winter

Different places in the world experience different seasons. I mean, if you live somewhere along the equator in Ecuador or Kenya or Indonesia, you might just have one: hot! But Korea has four distinct seasons: 봄 [pom] (“spring”), 여름 [yeoreum] (“summer”), 가을 [kaeul] (“fall”), and 겨울 [kyeoul] (“winter”). If you ask me, spring and fall in Korea are absolutely perfect! They’re so lovely. Traditionally, spring lasts from April through June, and fall comes in October and November. But there’s always some confusion regarding the exact dates, because year after year the seasons seem to change slightly, maybe because of global warming. And unfortunately, the seasons that get shortened are 봄 and 가을.

Anyway, I’ll stop talking about my favorite seasons so you can practice using what we just learned about the modifier 무슨 to ask what season it is in Korea:

한국은 지금 무슨 계절이에요 [Hangugeun chigeum museun kyejeorieyo?] What season is it now in Korea?

This question shouldn’t be too hard to answer. Unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere (or along the equator, as I said), the season in Korea should be roughly the same as where you are. But, even if you’re sitting in the heat of summer or the freezing cold of winter, let’s imagine we’re in Korea enjoying the beautiful spring and fall.

봄이에요. [Pomieyo.] It’s spring.

가을이에요. [Kaeurieyo.] It’s fall.

Days, months, years

In English, you list dates in something of a strange order, I think. It’s often month, day, then year. For many other parts of the world, it goes from smallest to largest: day, month, year. Well forget all that, because Korean is totally different. It gives dates from the largest unit to the smallest one: year, month, day. Just like we learned with time (hour, minute, second) in the last chapter, right?

This might be a little tricky to remember for English speakers, but I have great news. Korean has no long and strange month names to memorize like English does! All you have to do is put a Sino-Korean number in front of the word 월 [weol] (“month”). Wow, how easy! And the same goes for years and days. Just use the proper Sino-Korean number and follow it with 년 [nyeon] (“year”) or 일 [il] (“day of the month”). This is so simple, I bet you can do it right now:

오늘은 이천십 년,오 월,십삼 일이에요. [Oneureun icheonship nyeon, o weol shipsam irieyo.] Today is May 13, 2010.

Oh, it’s the 13th of the month? I wonder what day of the week it is.

무슨 요일이에요 [Museun yoirieyo?] What day of the week is it?

금요일이에요. [Keumyoirieyo.] It’s Friday.

Yikes! Today is Friday the 13th! But wait, before you start knocking on wood and throwing salt over your shoulder, consider this: 13 isn’t an unlucky number in Korea. No, the number to watch out for in Korea is even worse, because it’s so much more common. It’s 4! But why would the number 4 be considered unlucky? Well, it’s because the pronunciation of four, 사, is the same as the pronunciation of the Chinese character meaning “death.” Pretty scary, huh?

Okay, enough about that. Let’s move on to talk about a happier day:

오늘은 팔월 십오 일이에요. [Oneureun parweol shibo irieyo.] Today is August 15.

What, you don’t think August 15th is special? Well, to Koreans it’s very important, because August 15, 1945, is the day we regained our independence from Japan. Remember, as I told you at the very beginning of this book, Korea’s history is very important to understanding the culture of the modern country.

How about this one:

오늘은 구월 이십팔 일이에요. [Oneureun kuweol ishippal irieyo.] Today is September 28.

September 28th…another national holiday? Not really, but it should be. It’s my birthday! So, as I’m fond of reminding people:

그 날은 제 생일이에요. [Keu nareun che saengirieyo.] That day is my birthday.

Do you want to congratulate me? If so, you can say:

축하해 요 [Chukahaeyo!] Congratulations!

고맙습니다. Shall we celebrate? I think so, because once we get to the next chapter, there will be real cause for a party—your graduation party!

Korean Style: Which receives deliveries first: floor 2 or basement level 2?

Because the number 4 is considered unlucky in Korea, in many buildings the fourth floor will be symbolized with an “F” standing for the English “four” instead of the actual number. But actually, what you consider to be the fourth floor in your country might not be the same level as the one in Korea. I mean, different countries have different ways of counting floors. Some count starting with the ground level as #1, while others consider the floor directly above ground level to be the first one. Korea follows the first rule. So 1 [ 일] 증 is ground level, 2 [ 이] 증 is the next one up, and so on.

Here’s a riddle for thinking about the structure of Korean buildings:

Two Koreans who live in the same building call a Chinese restaurant at exactly the same time to order some noodles for delivery. One of them is on the 2nd floor, while the other is on the 2nd basement level. Who will get their delivery first?

Consider what’s going through the mind of the Chinese deliveryperson. She’s standing on the ground level, floor 1. To get to floor 2, she has to go up one flight of stairs. But to get to basement level 2, she’ll need to go down two flights of stairs. So, who’s going to get their food first?