LESSON 20

Months and Years

Months are COUNTED with the classifier dal and the Korean numerals: Myeot dal, han dal, du dal, seok dal, neok dal, daseot dal = how many, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 months; or with the classifier kae-weol and the Chinese numerals: il gaewol, i gaewol, sam gaewol, sa gaewol, o gaewol.

Months are NAMED with combinations of the Chinese numerals and -wol = month, but there are a few irregularities, starred in the list below.

Notice that January has two names:

January	Il wol	(sounds like i rweol) 일월
February	I wol	이월
March	Sam wol	삼월
April	Sa wol	사월
May	O wol	오월
June	*Yu wol	유월
July	Chil wol	(sounds like chi rweol) 칠월
August	Pal wol	(sounds like pa rweol) 팔월
September	Gu wol	구월
October	*Si wol	시월
November	Sip il wol	(sounds like si bi rweol) 십일월
December	Sip i wol	(sounds like si bi weol) 십이월

The seasons are bom = spring, yeoreum = summer, gaeul = autumn, and gyeoul = winter.

Years are counted or named by using the Chinese numerals and the classifier nyeon, and there are a few sound changes: il nyeon (illyeon) 일년, i nyeon 이년, sam nyeon 삼년, sa nyeon 사년, o nyeon 오년, yuk nyeon (yungnyeon) 육년, chil nyeon (chillyeon) 칠년, pal nyeon 팔년, gu nyeon 구년, sip nyeon (simnyeon) 십년.

Note also baek nyeon 백년 = 100 years, cheon nyeon 천년 = 1000 years.

Dates are given like this: I cheon chil nyeon, Sip i wol sip o il. 15 December 2007. If you want to add the day of the week and the time:

Icheon chil nyeon il wol ku il to yoil ohu sesi sibo bun. 3:15 p.m., Saturday, 9 January 2007.