Lesson 39 (Beginner 2B Lesson 7): Time

We spent the first 10 minutes or so of the class going through the common mistakes. Then we started on Chapter 10.

The teacher only sent us the test report at the end of the lesson, and like before, only the writing component (sentences and essay) were graded. The rest are in the report.

I lost marks in speaking and writing, so in the end it was still pretty high. I managed to end up with full marks for listening despite the apprehension I was feeling last week.

My friend didn't come for class today. The teacher seems to be at home today from her background and the set up with 1 computer. I noticed she's been alternating for the past few weeks. Like last week, it was in the school, but the previous week, it was not, and the week before, which I think was the first week they opened the physical school again, she was there.

Chapter 10 is about time, which I've learnt before somewhat with the First Step Korean course offered by Yonsei University on Coursera.


Korean English Notes
오전 AM From 12am to 12pm (midnight to noon), but also used to refer to the time of the morning after breakfast from 8am to 12pm (where there is no more specific word for that period in the morning).
오후 PM From 12pm to 12am (noon to midnight), not just the afternoon period, though from 12pm to 6pm you don't have a more specific word for it than this.
새벽 dawn 12am to 6am
아침 morning Approximately from 6am to 8am, it refers generally to the time before (and in a sense, during) breakfast. 9am might be still considered 아침.
정오 noon The 오 is where you get the 오 for 오전 and 오후. Sino-Korean word from 正午.
저녁 evening 6pm to 9pm
night 9pm to 12am (midnight)
오늘밤 tonight
어젯밤 last night 어제 + 밤, but because there is no 받침, you add the ㅅ to stick them together. (I guess this is why it's 찻집 for "teahouse".)
아점 brunch The full name is 아침 겸 점심, but it's such a mouthful that most people just call it 아점. means "as well as".
데이트하다 to have a date
버스를 기다리다 to wait for a bus
버스를 타다 to take a bus
빨래하다 to do the laundry
요리하다 to cook I have no idea why the textbook decided to add words that I though we learnt long ago... but ok. This isn't the only one but it's the one that I think we learnt the earliest.
샤워하다 to take a shower
세수하다 to wash one's face
운전하다 to drive
전화하다 to call
일어나다 to get up
청소하다 to clean
컴퓨터를 하다 to use a computer
회의하다 to hold a (formal) meeting
수업을 하다 to take a class More general
수업을 들다 to take a class Lecture-style class, where you listening to the teacher. Not for sports classes where you have to move and do things. For that you should use 하다
시험을 보다 to take a test 보다 is also used for attending an interview.
주말 잘 보내다 to have a good weekend
이번 this time
about About $10: 십 달러쯤; Around 5 (apples): 다섯 개쯤


1. 시간 (Time)

You use the native Korean numbers for the hour, and the Sino-Korean numbers for the minutes.

시 is for the hour, 분 is for the minutes.


  1. 지금 오후 시예요. (It is 4:00pm now.)
  2. 지금 오전 삼십 분이에요. = 지금 오전 이에요. (It is 1:30am now.)
  3. 열두 시에 점심을 먹었어요. (I ate lunch at 12pm.)
  4. 나나 씨는 열한 시쯤(에) 자요. (Nana goes to sleep around 11pm.)

The use of the time particle 에 is required when you are indicating the time that an action is being performed.

When 쯤 is used to indicate approximate time, the time particle 에 is optional.

2. N 부터 N 까지

This is used to indicate a period of time. N 부터 indicates the point where something began; N 까지 indicates when something ended.

They can be used separately as well and it is not necessary to use both.

They can be used not only with hours and minutes, but also days of the week, dates, and even years.

They can also be used "to express a specific range on a scale" according to the notes, but I'm not exactly sure what this refers to. Perhaps just that you can use it to refer to a range of pages in a book for example.

For translations:

  • 부터 might be translated from, since (e.g. from 12pm, since 1999)
  • 까지 might be translated until, to, by (e.g. until 5pm, to Friday, by 15 Jan)


  1. 오전 아홉 시부터 오후 다섯 시까지 일해요. (I work from 9am to 5pm.)
  2. 시험이 월요일부터 수요일까지예요. (The exam period is from Monday to Wednesday.)
  3. 5쪽부터 10쪽까지 읽으세요. (Please read from page 5 to page 10.)
  4. 방학이 7월 18일부터 26일까지예요. (The school holidays is from 18 to 26 July.)

The content is pretty straightforward in theory. The tricky part again is with the numbers, being able to say what you need to.

One thing I noticed during class was that many students said [시레] when it should be [시에] as in 8시에 아침을 먹어요. I believe this is because of the "muscle memory" where we had the dates and days of week, such as 일요일에, 8월 1일에, etc. that all have the ㄹ batchim. The association for Time + 에 making a [레] sound becomes very automatic.

The other thing I noticed was that I tended to write 부테 instead of 부터, I corrected myself many times when doing the homework earlier, and even when typing it out in this post.

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