LESSON 19

What Day Is It?

Counting days is somewhat irregular. The following system is very common, though the most common way you’ll hear used to refer to days of the month is simply the Chinese-style number and then il (일), or “day”. So the 5th would be oil, 오일 (often written as 5일) and the 27th would be isip-chilil, 이십칠일, both for counting the days and for giving the day of the month.

How many days?	Myeochil?	몇 일?
What day of the month?	Museun yoil?	무슨 요일?
1(st)	haru	하루
2(nd)	iteul	이틀
3(rd)	saheul	사흘
4(th)	naheul	나흘
5(th)	dassae	닷새
6(th)	yeossae	엿새
7(th)	ire	이레
8(th)	yeodeure	여드레
9(th)	aheure	아흐레
10(th)	yeol heul	열흘
11(th)	yeol haru	열하루
12(th)	yeol iteul	열이틀
13(th)	yeol saheul	열사흘
14(th)	yeol naheul	열나흘
15(th)	yeol dassae	열닷새
16(th)	yeol yeossae	열엿새
17(th)	yeol ire	열이레
18(th)	yeol yeodeure	열여드레
19(th)	yeol aheure	열아흐레
20(th)	seumu nal	스무날

But alongside this system, there is also a Chinese system using the classifier il = day and the regular Chinese numerals: il il, i il, sam il, sa il, o il, etc.

Above 20, this system is the only one used: i sip il il = 21 days OR the 21st day of the month; i sip i il = 22 days OR the 22nd day of the month; sam sip sam il = 33 days.

The names of the days of the week are as follows:

What day of the week?	Museun yoil ieyo?
	무슨 요일 이에요?
Monday	Wol yoil (wo ryo il)
	월요일
Tuesday	Hwa yoil
	화요일
Wednesday	Su yoil
	수요일
Thursday	Mok yoil (Mo gyoil)
	목요일
Friday	Geum yoil
	금요일
Saturday	To yoil
	토요일
Sunday	Il yoil (iryoil)
	일요일

Weeks are counted with either the Korean or the Chinese numerals and for a classifier you can use either juil or jugan—both mean week:

How many weeks?	Myeot jugan?
	몇 주간?
one week	han ju, il juil, han jugan, il jugan
	한 주, 일주일, 한 주간, 일주간
two weeks	du ju, i juil, du jugan, i jugan
	두 주, 이주일, 두 주간, 이주간
three weeks	se ju, sam juil, se jugan, sam jugan
	세 주, 삼주일, 세 주간, 삼주간