Lesson 10: 부터/에서 ~ 까지

In this lesson, you will learn how to say ‘from‘ and ‘to‘ in Korean when talking about a physical range or temporal range over which an event or an action takes place. By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to say things like “From A to B“, “From 10 o’clock to two o’clock“, etc.

Lesson 10: 부터/에서 ~ 까지

Noun + 에서 Noun + 까지

In the previous lesson, you learned that 에서 can mark a location where an action takes place or can express ‘from a place’. 까지 [kka-ji] is attached to nouns to express ‘to a place’. The structure Noun+에서 Noun+까지 is used to say ‘from A to B’ when talking about physical locations. To help you understand what we mean, let’s look at some examples:

집에서 학교까지 [ji-be-seo hak-gyo-kka-ji] = from home to school
부산에서 서울까지 [bu-sa-ne-seo seo-ul-kka-ji] = from Busan to Seoul
한국에서 영국까지 [han-gu-ge-seo yeong-guk-kka-ji] = from Korea to England

Noun + 부터 Noun + 까지

부터 [bu-teo] is similar in meaning to 에서 but is used when talking about time. The structure Noun+부터 Noun+까지 is used to say ‘from time A to time B’. Let’s look at some examples:

12시부터 1시까지 [yeol-du-si-bu-teo han-si-kka-ji] = from twelve to one
토요일부터 월요일까지 [to-yo-il-bu-teo wo-ryo-il-kka-ji] = from Saturday to Monday
2월부터 3월까지 [i-wol-bu-teo sa-mwol-kka-ji] = from February to March

Example Sentences

There are no special conjugation rules using the structures above, so it is quite easy to make your own sentences. All you need to remember is to place 에서/부터/까지 after the nouns. This is different from English in which ‘from’ and ‘to’ are placed before the noun. Here are some example sentences:

여기에서 집까지 멀어요? [yeo-gi-e-seo jip-kka-ji meo-reo-yo] = Is it far from here to home?

이 식당은 열 시부터 열 시까지 열어요. [i sik-dang-eun yeol si-bu-teo yeol si-kka-ji yeo-reo-yo] = This restaurant is open from 10 a.m until 10 p.m.

학교에서 집까지 걸어왔어요. [hak-gyo-e-seo jip-kka-ji geo-reo-wa-sseo-yo] = I walked home from school.

점심시간은 열두 시부터 한 시까지예요. [jeom-sim-si-ga-neun yeol-du si-bu-teo han si-kka-ji-ye-yo] = Lunchtime is from 12 until 1.

여기에서 부산역까지 어떻게 가요? [yeo-gi-e-seo bu-san-yeok-kka-ji eo-tteo-ke ga-yo] = How do you get from here to Busan station?

언제부터 언제까지 방학이에요? [eon-je-bu-teo eon-je-kka-ji bang-ha-gi-e-yo] = When is the school vacation?