Your K-Pop Ticket Date in Korean: A 5-Min Guide
Hello! This is Daily Hangeul, here to upgrade your Korean skills!
Have you ever felt that rush of excitement getting a ticket to see your favorite K-Pop idol? It’s the best feeling! But imagine you get the ticket and… you can’t read the date! 😱 Don’t worry, we’re going to fix that today.
Lately in Korea, getting tickets for the hottest groups is a real battle. So, when you finally succeed, you need to know exactly when the big day is. Today, we’ll learn how to read and say dates in Korean, so you’ll be 100% ready for your dream concert. Let’s go!
Core Expressions You Must Know
Here are the essential building blocks for talking about dates.
1. The Words for “Month” and “Day”
- Korean Expression: 월 (month) & 일 (day)
- Pronunciation [Romanization]: wol & il
- English Meaning: month & day
- Detailed Explanation: This is the magic formula! In Korean, you use Sino-Korean numbers (the ones from Chinese: 일, 이, 삼, 사…) for dates. You simply place the number for the month before 월 (wol) and the number for the day before 일 (il).
- January = 1월 (il-wol)
- August = 8월 (pal-wol)
- 1st (day) = 1일 (il-il)
- 25th (day) = 25일 (i-sib-o-il)
- 💡 Pronunciation Tip:
Let’s look at the word 십일월 (sib-il-wol), which means November (Month 11). It’s not pronounced sip-il-wol. In Korean, when a consonant at the end of a syllable is followed by a vowel, the sound “links” or moves over. So the ‘ㅂ(b/p)’ sound from 십 links with ‘일’ to sound like [시비뤌 / si-bi-rwol]. It makes the pronunciation much smoother!
2. How to Ask the Date
- Korean Expression: 오늘이 며칠이에요?
- Pronunciation [Romanization]: Oneuri myeochil-ieyo?
- English Meaning: What’s the date today?
- Detailed Explanation: This is the most common way to ask for the date. Let’s break it down: 오늘 (oneul) means “today,” -이 (-i) is a subject marker, 며칠 (myeochil) is the special question word for “what day of the month,” and 이에요 (ieyo) means “is.” You can easily swap “오늘” for other words, like “콘서트 (konseoteu)”!
- 💡 Pronunciation Tip:
The word ‘며칠’ is a great example of a fun Korean pronunciation rule called palatalization. It’s written as ‘몇(myeot) + 일(il)’, but nobody says myeot-il. The final ‘ㅌ(t)’ sound of ‘몇’ meets the ‘ㅣ(i)’ vowel and transforms into a ‘ㅊ(ch)’ sound. So, it becomes [며칠 / myeo-chil]. It sounds much more natural! It’s the same rule that makes ‘같이 (gat-i)’ sound like [가치 / ga-chi].
3. How to State the Date
- Korean Expression: 10월 26일이에요.
- Pronunciation [Romanization]: Si-wol i-sim-nyug-il-ieyo.
- English Meaning: It’s October 26th.
- Detailed Explanation: This is your answer! You just combine the number, the month/day word, and add 이에요 (ieyo) at the end to make a polite sentence.
- 10 (십) + 월 (wol) = 10월 (si-wol) -> Special case for October!
- 26 (이십육) + 일 (il) = 26일 (i-sim-nyug-il)
- Put it all together: 10월 26일이에요.
- 💡 Pronunciation Tip:
Did you notice the pronunciation for October (10월) and June (6월)? They are special! Instead of 십월 (sib-wol) and 육월 (yuk-wol), the final consonants are dropped, and they become [시월 / si-wol] and [유월 / yu-wol]. Remembering these two exceptions will make you sound like a pro!
Example Dialogue: The Concert Date!
Let’s see how this works in a real conversation about a concert for the super-popular (and imaginary!) group, “Starlight Crew.”
A: 와, 너 스라크(Starlight Crew) 콘서트 티켓팅 성공했어?
(Wa, neo seurakeu konseoteu tiketing seong-gong-haess-eo?)
(Wow, did you succeed in getting a Starlight Crew concert ticket?)
B: 응! 진짜 운이 좋았어! 너무 행복해!
(Eung! Jinjja un-i joass-eo! Neomu haengbok-hae!)
(Yeah! I was so lucky! I’m so happy!)
A: 대박! 콘서트가 며칠이에요?
(Daebak! Konseoteuga myeochil-ieyo?)
(Awesome! What date is the concert?)
B: 11월 30일이에요.
(Sib-il-wol sam-sib-il-ieyo.)
(It’s November 30th.)
A: 알겠어! 11월 30일! 나 완전 부러워!
(Algess-eo! Sib-il-wol sam-sib-il! Na wanjeon bureowo!)
(Got it! November 30th! I’m so jealous!)
Culture Tip: The Great Korean “Ticketing War” (피케팅)
When you learn about concert dates in Korea, you have to know this word: 피케팅 (piketing).
This is a modern slang word that combines 피 (pi), meaning “blood,” with 티켓팅 (tiketing), the Korean way of saying “ticketing.” It literally means “bloody ticketing”!
Why? Because getting tickets for famous K-Pop idols or musicals is so competitive that it feels like a war. Millions of fans log into a website at the exact same second, and tickets sell out in minutes, or even seconds. Knowing the exact date (날짜 / naljja) and time (시간 / sigan) is the first and most important step to winning the “piketing” war. Now you know why learning dates is so important for a K-Pop fan!
Let’s Review & Practice!
Great job today! You learned the essential words 월 (wol) and 일 (il), and how to ask for and state the date. Now you can confidently read your concert ticket and tell all your friends when the big day is!
✏️ Practice Time!
Your friend asks you when your birthday is. How would you answer “It’s May 5th” in Korean? Fill in the blanks below!
___월 ___일이에요.
Leave your answer and your own birthday in the comments using the Korean format we learned today! (For example: 제 생일은 1월 15일이에요! – My birthday is January 15th!).
Happy learning
