The Days of the Week in Korean

Learning the days of the week in Korean is the best thing you can do if you recently became interested in learning Korean. Firstly, you’ll start small and that’s great! Like Rome, Seoul wasn’t built in a day. Nor your Korean vocabulary will ever be. Secondly, learning the days of the week is very practical and quite essential. Meetings, nights out, doctor appointments, reservations – will all happen on a certain day of the week. Last but not least, this basic Korean lesson will help you get a sense of how it feels to learn Korean. Does it fulfill you? Is this the right language for you? Do you want to continue and learn more or not?

Let’s get to it and find out.

Days of the week in Korean

In the table below you’ll find the days of the week in Korean together with their corresponding Romanization so you can learn how to pronounce them. If you wish to find out more about the Korean alphabet and how to read it, check out this quick guide to Hangul and its rules.

Practicing with the Mondly app can always help if you are not sure whether your pronunciation is on point or not.

The days of the week in Korean are:

The meaning behind the days of the week in Korean

If you are a fan of BTS, Squid Game, or K-drama in general, it’s possible that some of the Korean weekdays sound familiar to you. However, to make sure they are completely glued into your brain, we are going to look at how these words were formed. Studying the etymology of a word or its formation can help you make associations and remember it faster. This little trick applies to any language, not just Korean.

As you can see, all days in Korean end in 요일 (’yoil’) which translates to ‘day’ in English. Now all that remains to be analyzed is a single Korean character at the beginning of each of the seven words. Here’s what each day in Korean means in English:

• 월 (wol) in 월요일 (wollyoil – Monday) means ‘moon’
• 화 (hwa) in 화요일 (hwayoil – Tuesday) means ‘fire’
• 수 (su) in 수요일 (suyoil – Wednesday) means ‘water’
• 목 (mok) in 목요일 (mogyoil – Thursday) means ‘wood’ or ‘tree’
• 금 (geum) in 금요일 (geumyoil – Friday) means ‘gold’
• 토 (to) in 토요일 (toyoil – Saturday) means ‘soil’ or ‘earth’
• 일 (il) in 일요일 (illyoil – Sunday) means ‘day’ or ‘sun’

We can all agree that Koreans are right: Friday is indeed ‘gold’ and we all love it!

As a little bonus, here’s an image that may come in handy later. Save it or screenshot it and use it to practice what you’ve just learned.

Sample phrases with each day of the week in Korean

If it’s all clear so far, let’s dive into some examples using the days of the week in Korean. This is a great exercise if you want to put things into context.

• 저는 월요일에 도착합니다. (Jeoneun wor-yoir-e dochaghabnida.) – ‘I will arrive on Monday.’
• 화요일에 동물원이 열립니까? (Hwayoire dongmurwoni yeollimnikka?) – ‘Is the zoo open on Tuesday?’
• 수요일 좋습니다! (Suyoil jotseumnida!) – ‘Wednesday is perfect!’
• 목요일은 주중 네번째 날입니다. (Mog-yoireun jujung nebeonjjae naribnida.) – ‘Thursday is the fourth day of the week.’
• 나는 금요일까지 호텔에 체류합니다. (Naneun geum-yoilkkaji hoter-e cheryuhabnida.) – ‘I stay at the hotel until Friday.’
• 나는 토요일에 식료품을 삽니다. (Naneun toyoir-e sigryopum-eul sabnida.) – ‘I shop for food on Saturdays.’
• 내일은 일요일입니다. (Naeireun iryoirimnida.) – ‘Tomorrow is Sunday.’

From 0 to conversational in Korean

Do you want to see the Korean weekdays in action? Get Mondly, the award-winning language learning app that will help you speak Korean as if you were Seoul-born.

It can be really tricky to master the Korean pronunciation if you don’t actively live in South Korea. But with Mondly you’ll have access to a fast and highly efficient learning method that allows you to learn Korean naturally with:

• practical topics,
• bite-sized lessons,
• real-life conversations,
• … and so much more.

Start using Mondly for free on your computer or download the app and learn Korean anytime, anywhere.