Korean Days of the Month: 1일 to 31일 with Audio

What you'll learn

• Say every day from 1일 to 31일 with the right Sino-Korean number.
• Hear and say the days that change sound, such as 6일, 16일 and 31일.
• Ask 오늘 며칠이에요? and answer with a day.
• Tell a date day (삼 일) from a counted span (사흘).

Prerequisites: Sino-Korean numbers 1-100. Estimated time: 30 minutes.

Korean Days of the Month: the Essentials

The Korean days of the month are Sino-Korean numbers plus 일 (il), the unit for "day". Sino-Korean numbers are the set borrowed from Chinese: 일, 이, 삼, 사, 오. The pattern is Sino number + 일.

Native Korean numbers such as 하나 and 둘 do not name dates. The 1st is never 한 일, and the 20th is never 스무 일. Dates always take the Sino-Korean series, in the same way as years and months in the Korean date format. The full list follows.

What Are the Days 1일 to 31일?

The days 1일 to 31일 run from 일 일 to 삼십일 일. Numbers 1 to 10 are single words, 11 to 19 add 십 in front, 20 to 29 add 이십, and 30 and 31 use 삼십.

Look at the pattern in the second column. The tens come first (십, 이십, 삼십), the ones come second, and 일 closes every entry. In 십일 일 the first 일 belongs to the number 11 and the last 일 is the unit. This double 일 is correct, and it is the reason 1일, 11일, 21일 and 31일 sound repetitive.

Expert tip: learn the list in four blocks instead of one long row: 1 to 10, 11 to 19, 20 to 29 and 30 to 31. Each block repeats the same ones digit pattern (일, 이, 삼, 사, 오, 육, 칠, 팔, 구) with a different tens prefix, so once you know the first block, the other three cost almost nothing. Say each block aloud while you point at a printed calendar, and the digits and sounds attach to each other.

Which Days Change Sound?

Several days sound different from how they are spelled, because a final consonant links to the 일 that follows and some sounds shift. Learn these before your first Korean calendar conversation.

These shifts follow the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) standard pronunciation rules (표준 발음법): a final consonant moves to an empty syllable beginning, and ㄴ is added in a few compounds such as 십육. You do not need to memorize the table, but listen to the clips once. A notable pair is 10일 [시빌] and 11일 [시비릴]. They differ by one syllable, so on the phone it is worth confirming a date with the weekday or by repeating the digits.

Now that you can say each day, the next question is how to ask for one.

How Do You Ask for the Date with 며칠?

To ask what day of the month it is, say 오늘 며칠이에요? The word 며칠 (myeochil) means "what day of the month", and 오늘은 팔 일이에요 answers "Today is the 8th". The word is spelled 며칠 and never 몇일. It looks like 몇 (how many) + 일 (day), but the National Institute of Korean Language notes that 몇 + 일 would be pronounced [며딜], so the word is written as it sounds.

Here is a short dialogue between two coworkers.

• 지수: 오늘 며칠이에요? (What date is it today?)
• 민호: 오늘은 십오 일이에요. (Today is the 15th.)
• 지수: 월급날이 며칠이에요? (What day is payday?)
• 민호: 이십오 일이에요. (The 25th.)

The question has three speech levels, and the day answer stays the same in all of them.

Only the sentence ending changes (이야, 이에요, 입니다). The number and the unit 일 are identical, which makes the day list the most reusable part of this page.

If you add the month, the question becomes 몇 월 며칠이에요? (what month and day). For a full set of ways to ask and answer the date, see what is the date in Korean. First, one trap with the same word 일 deserves a closer look.

How Are Date Days Different from Counted Days?

A date day names a position in the month, while a counted day measures a span. The date 삼 일 (the 3rd) uses Sino-Korean numbers with 일. The span "three days" is 사흘 in native Korean or 삼 일 in Sino-Korean, and the second form looks identical to the date, so only context separates them.

Spoken Korean prefers the native words for short spans: 이틀 걸려요 (it takes two days) is more natural than 이 일 걸려요. For dates, only the Sino form works. The 1st is 일 일, and 하루 never means "the 1st of the month". The counter for spans is explained on the 일 counter page.

The question 며칠 stretches across both meanings. 오늘 며칠이에요? asks for the date, while 며칠 걸려요? asks how many days something takes. Hear the difference in two short sentences.

What Is 초하루?

초하루 is the first day of a month, used especially for lunar-calendar months. It is a native word, like 하루, and carries a sense of tradition: 음력 초하루 is the first day of a lunar month. A related word is 보름, the 15th of a lunar month, and the last day of a lunar month is 그믐. For ordinary calendar dates, use the Sino pattern: 시월 일 일, not 시월 초하루.

Holiday Dates as Reading Practice

Korean national days are an excellent way to practice days of the month, because each is known by its date. Read the date aloud before you check the spoken form.

The name 삼일절 is built from the same date: 삼 (3) + 일 (1) + 절 (festival day), which is why it means March 1. You can check each date on any Korean calendar, and the weekday changes every year while the date stays fixed.

How Do You Say Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow with a Date?

Five everyday words place a date relative to today: 그저께 (the day before yesterday), 어제 (yesterday), 오늘 (today), 내일 (tomorrow) and 모레 (the day after tomorrow). Pair each with a date day to build clear sentences.

Notice that 어제는 칠 일이었어요 uses 이었어요, the past form of 이에요. The date itself does not change. Only the ending tells the listener that the day has already passed.

How Many Days Does Each Month Have?

Seven months have 31 days, four have 30 and February has 28 or 29. The Korean phrases use the Sino-Korean pattern: 삼십일 일 for 31, 삼십 일 for 30, 이십팔 일 for 28 and 이십구 일 for 29.

The last day of a month is 말일 (maril), as in 이번 달 말일은 삼십일 일이에요 (the last day of this month is the 31st). The first part of a month is 월초 and the end is 월말. These words are common in work and billing messages, such as 월말까지 내 주세요 (please pay by the end of the month).

Days in Everyday Sentences

A day number is most useful inside a sentence about a plan, a deadline or an appointment. The particle 에 marks the day as the time of an action, and 부터 and 까지 mark the start and end.

The phrase 매월 means "every month". Together with a day number, it gives schedules such as rent days, class dates and payment dates.

Misconceptions about Days of the Month

Learners often assume that dates use native numbers, that 일 is always one word, or that the date can be skipped. Each idea is wrong.

Misconception 1: dates use native numbers because days are native. Dates always use Sino-Korean numbers. Native forms like 사흘 belong to spans of time.

Misconception 2: 일 일 is a typing mistake. It is correct: the first 일 is the number one and the second is the unit. The same doubling occurs in 십일 일 and 삼십일 일.

Misconception 3: 몇일 and 며칠 are both fine. The standard spelling is 며칠. Writing 몇일 is a common error.

Common Mistakes and Fixes

Five errors cover most wrong dates. Read the wrong form first, then the fix.

1. Using native numbers. Wrong: 여덟 일, 스무 일. Fix: 팔 일, 이십 일.
2. Dropping the unit. Wrong: 오늘은 팔이에요. Fix: 오늘은 팔 일이에요.
3. Using 하루 for the 1st. Wrong: 시월 하루. Fix: 시월 일 일.
4. Misspelling 며칠. Wrong: 몇일. Fix: 며칠.
5. Confusing 10일 and 11일. Fix: 십 일 for 10, 십일 일 for 11, and check the digits when you are unsure.

Honest limits. At natural speed the number and the unit run together into one breath group, so [시빌] (10일) and [시비릴] (11일) are easy to mishear. This page gives the careful forms, and the audio is text-to-speech, not a native recording. For natural speed, repeat the clips and listen for the syllable count.

Practice Set

Answer each item before you read the answer line.

1. Say "the 6th" in Korean.
2. Say "the 31st" in Korean.
3. Ask what the date is today.
4. Answer "Today is the 20th".
5. Correct the mistake: 오늘은 스무 일이에요.
6. Which can mean "three days": 삼 일, 사흘 or both? Which is more natural in speech?

Answers:

1. 육 일 (yuk il), spoken [유길].
2. 삼십일 일 (samsibil il).
3. 오늘 며칠이에요?
4. 오늘은 이십 일이에요.
5. 오늘은 이십 일이에요. Dates take 이십, not the native 스무.
6. Both can mean three days. 사흘 is more natural in speech for a span, and 삼 일 is the date reading.

If you got four or more, you are ready to move on.

What to Learn Next

You now know the Korean days of the month: Sino-Korean number plus 일, with a few days that change sound. Continue in this order:

• What is the date in Korean for asking and answering today's date, the weekday and a birthday.
• Korean date format for putting year, month and day together.
• The 일 counter for counting spans of days.
• Days of the week in Korean for the seven weekday names.
• Dates in Korean for the full section of date pages.

Frequently Asked Questions