Telling Time in Korean: Native Hours and Sino-Korean Minutes
Learn why Korean hours use native numbers while minutes use Sino-Korean numbers, with examples for 몇 시예요, 반, a.m., and p.m.
One sentence, two sets
Two number systems split the language. A clock is the place they split inside one sentence.
세 시 삼십 분. Three-thirty. The hour is native Korean. The minute is Sino-Korean. Learners who learned 일, 이, 삼 first produce 삼 시, and that is the mistake this page exists to stop.
Hours and minutes
Hours run 한 시, 두 시, 세 시, 네 시, 다섯 시 through 열두 시. The number is the same native set that counts objects, already shortened the way counters shorten 하나 to 한. Minutes run 일 분, 오 분, 십 분, 십오 분, 삼십 분, 사십오 분. That is the Sino-Korean set that also runs money and dates.
Asking and meeting
지금 몇 시예요?
jigeum myeot siyeoyo? — What time is it?
예요 is 이다 on 시. 지금 takes no 에. The answer keeps both systems: 두 시 십 분이에요.
세 시에 만나요.
se sie mannayo — Let’s meet at three.
The 에 marks the point on the clock. Two units stack with 에 only on the last: 월요일 세 시에.
네 시 반에 오세요.
ne si bane oseyo — Come at half past four.
반 is 30 minutes. 오세요 is -(으)세요. The hour is still native 네, not 사.
오전 and 오후 sit in front when you need the half of the day: 오전 열 시, 오후 세 시 반. Korean conversation uses the twelve-hour clock more than a twenty-four-hour reading.
The minute-side slip
A second slip sits on the minute side. People who have just learned 다섯, 열, 스물 try 열다섯 분 or 스무 분. Those are object-counting numbers. Fifteen minutes is 십오 분. Twenty minutes is 이십 분. The native set does not move onto 분 just because the hour used it.
The test is the same one as the number-systems page, applied twice. Is this a slot you count, like apples? Native — that is the hour. Is this a measured unit, like won or a calendar day? Sino-Korean — that is the minute. Dates flip the whole sentence to Sino-Korean — month, day, and weekday. That is the next page, and it will look like the opposite of this one.
Common questions
Why do hours and minutes disagree?
The hour behaves like a counted slot — 한 시, 두 시, the same native set as 한 개, 두 개. The minute is a measured unit, like money and dates, so it takes Sino-Korean. The split is inside one reading of the clock.
Can I say 세 시 반 instead of 세 시 삼십 분?
Yes. 반 is the everyday half-hour. 삼십 분 is never wrong; 반 is just shorter when the minute is exactly 30.
한 시 or 하나 시?
한 시. 하나, 둘, 셋, 넷 shorten before 시 the same way they shorten before 개. [Counters](/posts/korean-counters/) are the page for that cut.
Do I need 에 every time?
On a clock time that says when, yes: 세 시에 만나요. 지금 and 매일 take no 에 — that list lives on the 에 page, not here.
Practice & questions
Try a sentence with an expression from this lesson, or ask about anything you are still unsure of.
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