What are Time Adverbs?
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.
Common Time Adverbs
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)
Using Time Adverbs with Particles
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)