Learning the days of the week in Korean is a great way to start your vocabulary study in the language. You’ll use the Korean days of the week often, especially if you’re living in Korea or are interested in Korean culture.
Maybe you’re making an appointment with friends in Korea. Or perhaps you’re planning to make a reservation for a table at a restaurant, a room in a hotel, or tickets for a plane during the week. You’ll need to know how to say weekdays in Korean for these situations, too.
It’ll be good to know the days of the week in Korean for casual conversation. Once you know them, you’ll also be able to explain past, current, or upcoming events in your life. Or perhaps you can easily take note of Korean history, the public holidays, or a national holiday like Hangeul Day.
Let’s get to it!
Contents
Below is a free PDF guide that you can download and take with you:
The Days of the Week in Korean
Below are the Korean words for the days of the week. If you can’t read the Korean Alphabet yet, head over here for a free guide that will teach you Hangul before your next meal.
Here is how you say the Korean days of the week. Click the Korean word to hear the correct pronunciation.
| Days of the Week in English | Days of the Week in Korean |
|---|---|
| Monday | |
| Tuesday | |
| Wednesday | |
| Thursday | |
| Friday | |
| Saturday | |
| Sunday |
Do any of these Korean words sound familiar? It’s very likely you’ve heard the days of the week in Korean movies, K-Pop songs, or in K-Dramas. Some appear in Korean slang, too.
How to Remember the Days of the Week in Korean
South Korea uses the Gregorian calendar, which the majority of the world uses. So, if you already know the days of the week, and once you get used to the pattern, it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to learn or memorize the days of the week in the Korean language. You can use this pattern to learn the colors in Korean as well.
Here’s a video to help you remember the words for the days of the week in Korean easily.
Below, we’ll also go over sample sentences for each one just to increase the number of times your brain will have seen each word.
The Meaning of the Days of the Week in Korean
Did you know that the days of the week each have a special meaning in Korean?
Depending on how familiar you are already with Korean, you may have noticed these words. Let’s go over the meaning of the first syllable for each of the days of the week in Korean:
| English Days of the Week | Korean Days of the Week | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 월 (wol) means "moon" | |
| Tuesday | 화 (hwa) means "fire" | |
| Wednesday | 수 (su) means "water" | |
| Thursday | 목 (mok) means "wood" | |
| Friday | 금 (geum) means "gold" | |
| Saturday | 토 (to) means "soil" | |
| Sunday | 일 (il) means "day" |
These meanings might help you make some associations so you can more easily remember the Korean days of the week. Also, below are some examples using the days of the week in Korean. Each sample sentence uses standard Korean. You can use them in most situations, and they’re considered polite. These are excellent examples to help you learn Korean grammar and Korean sentence structure.
“Monday” in Korean
The word for “Monday” in Korean is 월요일 (woryoil).
How do you spell “Monday” in Korean
The syllables 월-요-일 (wor-yo-il) complete the Korean word for “Monday.”
The first 월 (wol) in Monday means “moon.” 월 (wol) and is also used as the nominator for each month in Korean.
Note that its pronunciation is a bit challenging because of the bottom ㄹ in the first syllable. You may want to practice that one a few times.
Sample sentence:
월요일 마다 한국어수업에 다녀요 (woryoil mada hangugeosueobe danyeoyo)
I attend a Korean class every Monday.
“Tuesday” in Korean
You can say “Tuesday” in Korean as 화요일 (hwayoil).
How do you spell “Tuesday” in Korean?
You can spell this word as 화-요-일 (hwa-yo-il). The syllable 화 (hwa) means “fire.” It is shortened from the word meaning “fire” and “blaze” in Korean, which is 화재 (hwajae).
Sample sentence:
화요일 저녁에 만날까요? (hwayoil jeonyeoge mannalkkayo?)
Shall we meet on Tuesday evening?
“Wednesday” in Korean
The word for “Wednesday” in Korean is 수요일 (suyoil).
How do you spell “Wednesday” in Korean?
How to spell “Wednesday” in English can be a bit confusing for some, but in Korean, “Wednesday” is spelled with the syllables 수-요-일 (su-yo-il).
The first syllable 수 (su) means “water.” You can see it, for example, in Korean words such as 수영 (suyeong), which means “swimming,” and 생수 (saengsu), which means “drinking water.”
Sample sentence:
이번주 수요일에 가족과 함께 여행가요 (ibeonju suyoire gajokgwa hamkke yeohaenggayo)
I will go on a trip with my family this Wednesday.
“Thursday” in Korean
The Korean word for “Thursday” is 목요일 (mogyoil).
How do you spell “Thursday” in Korean?
You can spell “Thursday” as 목-요-일 (mog-yo-il). By now, you might have already grasped how each day of the week is written. They mainly differ in their first syllables.
For “Thursday,” it’s 목 (mok) which means means “wood.” Related to this is the word 목재 (mokjae) which means “lumber” or “timber.”
Sample sentence:
목요일에 콘서트를 보려고 해요 (mongnyoire konseoteureul boryeogo haeyo)
I intend to see a concert on Thursday.
“Friday” in Korean
You can say “Friday” in Korean as 금요일 (geumyoil).
How to spell “Friday” in Korean
“Friday” in Korean is spelled with the syllables 금-요-일 (geum-yo-il).
금 (geum) means “gold,” and it is also popular to refer to Friday nights as 불금 (bulgeum), which translates to “Fire Friday” as 불 (bul) means “flame.” 불금 (bulgeum) is a popular Korean slang term similar to TGIF in English.
Sample sentence:
금요일에 뭘 할거에요? (geumyoire mwol halgeoeyo?)
What will you do on Friday?
“Saturday” in Korean
The word for “Saturday” in Korean is 토요일 (toyoil).
How to spell “Saturday” in Korean
The syllables 토-요-일 (to-yo-il) are used to form the word for “Saturday” in Korean.
The first syllable 토 (to) means “soil.” You can apply the same “Fire Friday” slang to Saturday as well. To say “Fire Saturday,” you can say 불토 (bulto).
Sample sentence:
오늘 토요일 이죠? (oneul toyoil ijyo?)
Today is Saturday, right?
“Sunday” in Korean
Lastly, the word for “Sunday” in Korean is 일요일 (iryoil), where 일 (il) means “day” but can also mean “sun.”
How do you spell “Sunday” in Korean
For “Sunday” in Korean, the same syllable, 일 (il), is used in the first and last syllables, making it easier to remember and form the word 일요일 (iryoil).
All of these words are based on the hanja character writing system, which originated in China.
Sample sentence:
일요일이라서 하루종일 쉬고싶어요 (illyoiriraseo harujongil swigosipeoyo)
It’s Sunday, so I just want to take a rest all-day.
You may find these related words helpful:
“Day” in Korean
As you may have guessed already, the word 일 (il) means “day” in Korean. Many Korean words in the language follow patterns like this, just like in English. It’s helpful to pay attention to them as you learn Korean. Similarly, 요일 (yoil) also translates as “day,” specifically when used to denote the days of the week.
“Week” in Korean
You can say “week” in Korean as 주 (ju).
If something occurs weekly, you can use the Korean word for “weekly” or “every week,” which is 매주 (maeju).
“Weekday” in Korean
The Korean word for “weekday” is 평일 (pyeongil).
“Weekdays” in Korean
When pertaining to multiple days in a week, you can say 주중 (jujung).
“Weekend” in Korean
The word for “weekend” in Korean is 주말 (jumal).
Wrap Up
Now that you’ve learned the days of the week in Korean, it is a great time to go out and practice your new knowledge! This will be especially helpful for you if you’re in South Korea. To further familiarize yourself with Korean terms for dates and time, you can head over to our articles on Months in Korean or Telling time in Korean next!
If you’re not sure where to head next, simply follow the how-to guide for learning Korean. It contains things like essential Korean words you should learn first, everyday Korean phrases, and how to learn Korean numbers.
What is your favorite day of the week in the Korean language? Let us know in the comments below!
It is all so well explained. Thank you so much for your work and dedication.
Thanks to all these material I am now reading (at a very basic level) Korean. I know in time I will be able to do it without the help of my cheatsheet.
You also write advise about how to learn, and it got me at a “emotional” level, because I was so overwelmed and I wanted to know it all, but in lesson 1 you said to take it easy.
Thank you for that.
Great, thanks for your kind words and for sharing! ^^ If you want to learn Korean, we have a step-by-step resource guide called Learn Korean Online: How-To Guide for Language Study that you can follow. You can also check our blog and visit our YouTube channel for articles and videos with great Korean content.
Write the date of the Month. (1-31st)?
You can write the date with number and then add ‘일’. e.g. 1일, 2일, 3일 ~ 31일.
What is the word for day? What is the difference between
날, 하루, 일, 낮, 당일, 시대 ?
nal, halu, il, naj, dang-il, sidae?
하루 means “a day.” 날 also means “a day” but it is used with other words rather than by itself. e.g. 다음 날=next day, 좋은 날=a good day.
일 is counter for days and it’s also used when saying dates. For example, 1월 1일 means ‘January 1st.’ 5일 동안 means ‘for 5 days’
낮 means “the daytime.” 당일 means “the day’, that day, the appointed day.”
시대 means “an era, the times.”
thank you so much!