Months in Korean – Complete List with Audio and Examples

Last Updated on July 30, 2020

Do you know how to say the various months in Korean? It’s really important and for good reason!

In this lesson, we’ll explain how to say and write various months in Korean. Then we’ll also show you how to write specific dates and years, such as your date of birth.

This will be extremely valuable so you can talk about things like holidays in your home country, today’s date, as well as make plans on a future date with your Korean friends. You can combine these with telling time in Korean and knowing the Korean days of the week as well.

Here is the list with audio pronunciation.

Below, we’ve got a detailed guide on how to put these months to use. Let’s get to it!

In this lesson, we’ll introduce you to all of the words in Hangeul (the Korean alphabet) with romanized English on the side for pronunciation help. We highly recommend learning the Korean alphabet. It will make it easier to learn new vocabulary words and pronounce them properly. This will also help if you’re planning on going to Korea or learning the language.

Months in Korean

There are two main words for how to say “month” in Korean. The first word is 월 (wol) and the second word is 달 (dal). The two words have some differences in how they are used, which we will illustrate in the below examples further.

To simply explain it, 월 (wol) is used for describing the date in Korean. 달 (dal), on the other hand, is used to count the months. You can also use it when you want to say something like “this month”, “last month” or “next month”.

Learning to differentiate between the two words for “month” in Korean is going to be quite easy, though. After all, one of the words, 월 (wol), is already attached to each and every month. In fact, as soon as you’ve learned to count in Korean, learning how to say months in Korean will be the easiest task!

Why is that? Because all of the months are assigned a number based on the order of the month.

Here is a table to illustrate:

If you have not yet learned the numbers in Korean, you can learn them here in this lesson.

Because each month goes by numbers, Koreans usually write each month in the numeric form. For example, when writing March, you would write it as 3월 (samwol). January would be 1월 (irwol), and July is 7월 (chirwol). The table below is how Koreans would usually write the months. The romanized Korean next to the months is there for a guide.

This will also be the way to write dates in Korean, which we’ll discuss in a bit.

Special Pronunciation

You may have noticed that both June and October slightly differ from their designated numbers. That is because the words for six and ten, 육 (yuk) and 십 (sib) respectively, are difficult to pronounce naturally when combined with the word 월 (wol). Therefore, the last consonant has been dropped.

How to Write Dates in Korean

You might be asking how dates are written in Korean. For the next part of this lesson, let go over how to write full dates. That will allow you to add in the day and year component. You can write it using this format:

YYYY년MM월DD일

YYYY(nyeon) MM(wol) DD(il)

Usually, the year is a 4 digit number, but you may see it written a 2 digit number as well.

Let’s use one a BTS members age for an example. Jungkook’s birthday is on September 1st. He was born on September 1, 1997. We can write it as:

1997년 9월 1일 (cheongubaekgusip chil nyeon guwol iril)

Fun fact: Do you know how old Jungkook from BTS is in Korean age? Here’s how to find out.

Examples of Dates in Korean

Time for practice for what we learned. Write the dates below in Korea using both numbers and words. Use the new vocabulary you learned above for 월 and 일.  Then scroll down to check your answers.

March 1 – Independence Movement Day in Korea

July 1 – Canada Day

January 1  – New Year’s Day

February 14 – Valentine’s Day

August 15 – Liberation Day in Korea

December 25 – Christmas

October 31 – Halloween

July 4 – US Independence Day

December 26 – Boxing Day

October 9 – Hangeul Day

Answers:

3월1일 – 삼월일일 – March 1 – Independence Movement Day in Korea

7월1일 – 칠월일일 – July 1 – Canada Day

1월1일 – 일월일일 – January 1  – New Year’s Day

2월14일 – 이월십사일 – February 14 – Valentine’s Day

8월15일 – 팔월십오일 – August 15 – Liberation Day in Korea

12월25일 – 십이월이십오일 – December 25 – Christmas

10월31일 – 시월삼십일일 – October 31 – Halloween

7월4일 – 칠월사일 – July 4 – US Independence Day

12월26일 – 십이월이십육일 – December 26 – Boxing Day

10월9일 – 시월구일 – October 9 – Hangeul Day

Sample Sentences

Use these sample sentences as a guide to how to make Korean sentences using months and dates. Additionally, you can mix it up by substituting days of the week in Korean. These are great examples for assisting with learning Korean grammar, such as particles and markers.

제 생일은 4월 7일입니다 (je saengireun sawol chiririmnida)

My birthday is on April 7

여덟달전에 한국에 왔어요 (yeodeoldaljeone hanguge wasseoyo)

I came to Korea eight months ago

우리 나라의 제일 중요한 휴일은 십이월말에 있습니다

(uri naraui jeil jungyohan hyuireun sibiwolmare itseumnida)

Our country’s most important holiday is at the end of December

Congratulations! You have completed this lesson and successfully learned all the months in Korean. You should now be able to read and write dates. That will help you with understanding Korean culture, as well as what happens in Korean dramas and movies.

After this lesson, you also know the difference between the two words for “month” in Korean. Try writing your favorite date or month in Korean below in the comments, and let us know why that date is important to you.