How to Say Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Snack Times in Korean
Learn the four Korean meal words and the everyday patterns for saying when you eat each one, using Hangul and Revised Romanization.
By MarcusFood & cafés · Yapr Learn
In this lesson you will learn the Korean words for the four eating occasions — breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack — and, more importantly, how to say when each one happens. The focus is on time, not on food. Korean has a very useful verb, meokda (to eat), and a small set of time words that let you build dozens of natural sentences. You will meet a special time particle, -e, that marks when something happens, and you will see how the honorific form deusida appears when you talk about someone else eating. By the end you will be able to say what time you eat each meal, ask a friend the same question, and understand the answer.
By the end, you can…
- name breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack in Korean.
- say what time I eat each meal using a time expression plus -e.
- ask and answer the question 'When do you eat?' in polite everyday Korean.
Listen once. Try it slowly. Then say it without looking.
Checking available voices…
아침
breakfast; morning
a-chim
Literally 'morning'. In context it means breakfast, as in 아침을 먹어요 (I eat breakfast).
점심
lunch; midday
jeom-sim
Refers to the midday meal. Used with the object particle -eul: 점심을 먹어요.
저녁
dinner; evening
jeo-nyeok
Literally 'evening'. In context it means dinner: 저녁을 먹어요 (I eat dinner).
간식
snack
gan-sik
A light snack between meals. Often takes the particle -eul: 간식을 먹어요.
몇 시에 먹어요?
What time do you eat?
myeot si-e meo-geo-yo?
A polite everyday question. 몇 시 means 'what time', and -e marks the time.
Pronunciation guides are approximate. Slow playback keeps the original pitch.
Make it make sense
Useful pattern
To say when you eat a meal, put the time expression before the verb and attach the time particle -e (에) to it. The basic shape is: [meal] + -eul/-reul + [time] + -e + meokda. For example, 아침을 일곱 시에 먹어요 (a-chim-eul il-gop si-e meo-geo-yo) means 'I eat breakfast at seven o'clock.' You can swap the meal word and the time freely: 점심을 열두 시에 먹어요 (I eat lunch at twelve), 저녁을 일곱 시에 먹어요 (I eat dinner at seven). The particle -e is not optional here; it is what marks the time.
When to use it
Use this pattern for regular routines and for answering 'when' questions. If you want to ask, say 몇 시에 먹어요? (myeot si-e meo-geo-yo?), 'What time do you eat?' To be specific about the meal, say 아침을 몇 시에 먹어요? (a-chim-eul myeot si-e meo-geo-yo?), 'What time do you eat breakfast?' The verb meokda has a polite everyday form, meogeoyo (먹어요), which is safe with strangers and acquaintances. For someone older or of higher status, use the honorific deuseyo (드세요): 아침을 드세요? (a-chim-eul deu-se-yo?), 'Do you eat breakfast?'
Listen to each line, then take one part and reply out loud.
아침을 몇 시에 먹어요?
What time do you eat breakfast?a-chim-eul myeot si-e meo-geo-yo?보통 일곱 시에 먹어요.
I usually eat at seven o'clock.bo-tong il-gop si-e meo-geo-yo.점심은요?
And lunch?jeom-sim-eun-yo?점심은 열두 시에 먹어요. 저녁은 일곱 시에 먹어요.
I eat lunch at twelve. I eat dinner at seven.jeom-sim-eun yeol-du si-e meo-geo-yo. jeo-nyeok-eun il-gop si-e meo-geo-yo.A little context goes a long way
Korean meals are often described by time of day rather than by a separate word for the meal itself, so 아침, 점심, and 저녁 double as 'morning', 'midday', and 'evening'. In everyday polite speech, use the -yo ending with people you do not know well. The honorific deusida is for talking about someone else eating, not for yourself.
One thing to watch for
Saying 저는 아침을 먹어요 일곱 시에, putting the time after the verb.
Try this instead: In Korean the time expression normally comes before the verb: 저는 아침을 일곱 시에 먹어요 (I eat breakfast at seven o'clock). Keep the order [subject] + [meal] + [time] + [verb].
Your turn
Try answering out loud before checking a possible answer.
1How do you say 'I eat lunch at twelve o'clock' in polite Korean?
Show a sample answer
점심을 열두 시에 먹어요. (jeom-sim-eul yeol-du si-e meo-geo-yo.)
The meal takes the object particle -eul, the time takes -e, and the polite verb meogeoyo comes last. Swapping 열두 시 for another time is also correct.
2What does 간식 mean, and when does it usually happen?
Show a sample answer
간식 means 'snack'. It usually happens between meals, for example 오후 세 시에 간식을 먹어요 (I eat a snack at three in the afternoon).
간식 is a light eating occasion, not a main meal. Any time expression with -e can be used, so 오후 세 시에 is one valid answer among many.
3How would you politely ask an older person 'Do you eat breakfast?'
Show a sample answer
아침을 드세요? (a-chim-eul deu-se-yo?)
Use the honorific verb deusida (드세요) when asking about someone else eating. 아침을 먹어요? is grammatically fine but less honorific, so it is better for friends or people of similar age.
Learn the four meal words — 아침, 점심, 저녁, 간식 — and remember the order: meal + time + -e + meogeoyo. That one pattern lets you say when you eat any meal.
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