Adverbs of Time

What are Time Adverbs? (시간 부사)

In Korean, adverbs of time, or 시간 부사 , are words that tell you when an action or state takes place. They answer the question "when?".

Common examples include:

오늘 - today

내일 - tomorrow

어제 - yesterday

Sentence Position

Time adverbs are quite flexible in their placement, but they most commonly appear at the beginning of a sentence or right before the predicate (the verb or adjective at the end).

오늘 날씨가 좋아요. (Today, the weather is good.)

날씨가 오늘 좋아요.

Placing the adverb at the beginning is the most common and natural-sounding structure for simple sentences.

Here are some of the most frequently used time adverbs, grouped by their relation to the present moment.

Past

어제 (eoje): yesterday

아까 (akka): a little while ago, just before

Present

오늘 (oneul): today

지금 (jigeum): right now

요즘 (yojeum): these days, recently

Future

내일 (naeil): tomorrow

모레 (more): the day after tomorrow

이따가 (ittaga): a little later (today)

You might have noticed that some time words are followed by the particle 에 , while others are not. Here's a general guide:

When to OMIT 에

The particle 에 is typically not used with relative time adverbs that are defined by the present moment. This is a very common pattern.

오늘 (O) / 오늘에 (X)

어제 (O) / 어제에 (X)

내일 (O) / 내일에 (X)

지금 (O) / 지금에 (X)

When to USE 에

The particle 에 is commonly attached to specific, named periods of time.

아침에 (in the morning)

점심에 (at lunchtime)

저녁에 (in the evening)

주말에 (on the weekend)

오후에 (in the afternoon)

For Emphasis: 에는

You can attach 에는 to a time adverb to add contrast or emphasis. It's like saying, "As for yesterday..." or "On other days it's different, but today...".

어제는 날씨가 좋았어요. (The weather was good yesterday (implying it might not be today).)

Quick review

Use '에' for specific times (아침에)

Omit '에' for 오늘, 어제, 내일

Use '에는' for emphasis/contrast