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To express the hour when telling time in Korean, you use the counter 시 (si). It is combined with native Korean numbers to indicate the hour.
Structure: number + counter
How to use 시:
- 한 시 (han si) = 1 o’clock
- 두 시 (du si) = 2 o’clock
- 세 시 (se si) = 3 o’clock
Example sentences:
- 지금은 한 시예요. = It’s 1 o’clock now.
- 저는 두 시에 만나요. = I meet at 2 o’clock.
When telling time in full, minutes are added using the counter 분 (bun), which uses Sino-Korean numbers.
For example:
- 한 시 삼십 분 = 1:30
- 두 시 오 분 = 2:05
시 is only for hours, and it always uses native Korean numbers.
