SMART KOREAN PAGOH KOR C001

NUMBERS
(숫자/번호)
PREPARED BY NUR AMALIA
 PURE KOREAN CARDINAL
NUMBERS

SINO-KOREAN CARDINAL
NUMBERS
WHAT WE
WILL LEARN ORDINAL NUMBERS

COUNTING

FRACTIONS & DECIMALS

TWO SYSTEMS OF KOREAN NUMBERS
the Korean language has two number systems. One number
system is called Sino-Korean numbers, and this is a number
system based on Chinese characters, and the other is called
native Korean numbers, and as the name of the number system
would suggest, this is based on Korean language.
When learning Korean numbers, you do have to learn both
number systems because each has particular uses in Korean, so
you can’t just learn on and use that for everything – that
would sound very unnatural.
 Sino-Korean
Because Koreans used Chinese characters as a
writing system before the creation of Hangul, much
of Korean language is heavily influenced by Chinese
language, and Korean numbers is one of the most
influenced aspects.
Fortunately, although the numbers are based on
Chinese characters, you won’t have to learn any
The most common counter word is (ge), which we use
Chinese characters – you can just learn how they’re
written in Hangul.
Native Korean
The Native Korean numbers system is a bit more
modern than the Sino-Korean numbers system.
Primarily used to count things. In Korean, when you
count things, you have to use a specific word to count
different nouns. These counting words are called
counters.
개
to count most inanimate objects. However, there are
many different counters in Korean.
 Sino-Korean
0 TO 10 11 TO 99

영
0 – (young) To form double-digit numbers using Sino-Korean
일
1 – (il) numbers, you just have to combine the number
이
2 – (ee) words from 1 to 10.
이십
삼
3 – (sam)
20 –
이십일
사
4 – (sa)
21 –

오
5 – (oh)
So in the first example, to make twenty, we use the
이 십
육
6 – (yook)
words that refer to 2 ( ) and 10 ( ), and to make 21,
일
칠
7 – (chil)
we add the word that refers to 1 ( ) to 20.

팔
Below are few other examples:
8 – (pal) 십육
16 –
구
9 – (gu) 54 –오십사
십
10 – (ship) 97 –구십칠
 Sino-Korean
100 & 1,000
Saying the numbers above 100 is all about learning the large number units, and these are words like hundred, thousand,
and so on.
Below are the words for 100 and 1,000:
백
100 – (baek)
천
1,000 – (cheon)
Using these large number units, we can then use the number words from 1 to 10 to form words for large numbers.
Below are a few examples:
이백사십
240 –
삼천이백사십
3240 –
이 백
So in the first example, we make 200 by combining two ( ) and hundred ( ), and then add the number 40 ( 사십 ). In the
삼 천
second example, we make 3,000 by combining 3 ( ) and thousand ( ) and adding that to the 240 ( 이백사십 ).
Here are few other examples:
오백육십칠
567 –
이천육백오십
2650 –
칠천이백팔십
7280 –
 Sino-Korean
NUMBERS ABOVE 10,000

만
The Korean word for 10,000 is .
만
10,000 – (man)
만 십백 천 만
is an important word in Sino-Korean numbers as we can use the words , , and with to form larger
numbers, like this.
십만
100,000 –
백만
1,000,000 –
천만
10,000,000 –
만
And as with number below 10,000, we can then combine the smaller numbers with to form larger numbers.
삼만이천
32,000 –
오십삼만이천백
532,100 –
팔백오십삼만이천백오십
8,532,150 –
The last one is a rather extreme example, but you get the idea of how we combine small numbers together to
form larger numbers.
 Sino-Korean
HUNDRED MILLION AND ABOVE
Although hundred million is a huge number, using such numbers is a lot more common in Korea than in many other
countries, and this is mainly because in monetary terms, 100,000,000 won equates to around 100,000 dollars.
Therefore, if you talk to someone about the prices of properties in Korea, or even the prices of luxury cars, you will be
using numbers in the region of 100,000,000.
억
To talk about these numbers, the key word is (eok).
억
100,000,000 – (eok)
억 십백 천
We can also combine with the words , , and to form even larger numbers:
1,000,000,000 – 십억
10,000,000,000 – 백억
100,000,000,000 – 천억
억
Finally, forming large numbers using is again about combining small number words together.
Here are some examples:
240,000,000 – 이억사천
1,240,000,000 – 십이억사천
41,240,000,000 – 사백십이억사천
 Native-Korean
1 TO 10 20, 30, 40, ETC.

1– 하나 (hana) Similar to English numbers, native-Korean number

둘
2 – (dul)
system has specific words for double-digit numbers

셋
3 – (set)
that end in zero, and these are numbers like 20, 30,

넷
4 – (net)
40, and so on.
스물
5– 다섯 (daseot)
20 –
서른
30 –
(seumul)
(seoreun)
6– 여섯 (yeoseot) 마흔
40 – (maheun)
7– 일곱 (ilgob) 쉰
50 – (swin)
8– 여덟 (yeodeol) 예순
60 – (yesun)
9– 아홉 (ahop) 일흔
70 – (ilheun)
열 여든
80 – (yeodeun)
10 – (yeol)
아흔
90 – (aheun)
 Native-Korean
FORMING NUMBERS UP TO 99
Forming numbers to 99 is all about combining the single-digit
numbers with the double-digit numbers that end in zero. So
열 다섯
to form 15, we combine 10 ( ) and 5 ( 열다섯
), so 15 is .

Here are a few more examples:

스물하나
21 –
쉰셋
53 –
일흔아홉
79 –
HOW TO USE KOREAN
NUMBERS
As mentioned before, both number systems have
specific uses in Korean, and it’s important that the
number systems are used appropriately. Otherwise, it
can make your Korean sound very unnatural.
 SINO-KOREAN NATIVE KOREAN

Counter words:
To say the date: 명
People (general) – (myeon)
일월 일일 (January 1st) 한명 두명,
To count the days: 분
People (respectful) – (boon)
일일 이일, 한분 두분,
To count the years: 마리
Animals – (mari)
일년 이년 세 마리 네 마리
,
,
권
Books – (gwon)
To count the months:
일 개월 이 개월 세권 네권,
, 병
Bottles – (byung)
To talk about money: 다섯 병 여섯 병
사만원 오천원
,
, 잔
Glasses – (jan)
To talk about phone numbers: 다섯 잔 여섯 잔
,
오사오 사팔구칠- (545-4897) 살
Age – (sal)
일곱 살 여덟 살
,
 NATIVE KOREAN
To count specific nouns, we just put the noun in front of these
counting expressions, like this:
학생 한 명
One student –
개 세 마리
Three dogs –
양말 일곱 켤레
Seven pairs of socks –
When we count things using native Korean numbers, numbers 1 to 4,
as well as 20 change their form as below.
하나 한 –
둘 두 –
셋 세 –
넷 네 –
스물 스무 –
하나 개 한 개
So its not , but 스물 명 스무 명
, and it’s not , but .
EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE

Although each number system does have specific uses, there are also instances where both numbers can be
used for the same purpose. One such instance is when you count months.
When we count months in Korean, we can use two different counter words – 개월 달
(gaewol) & (dal). 개월 is
달
based on Chinese characters, so we use Sino-Korean numbers, and is a native Korean word, so we use
native-Korean numbers.
Here are some examples:
One month – 일 개월 한 달/
Three months – 삼 개월 세 달 /
Eight months –팔 개월 여덟 달 /
Another exception to the rule is telling the time. When we tell the time in Korean, we actually use both Sino-
Korean numbers and native-Korean numbers.
Here’s an example:
한시 십분
1:10 –
시 시분
means ‘hour’, and to indicate what the hour is, we use native-Korean numbers in front of . means
‘minute’, and to indicate how many minutes past the hour, we use Sino-Korean numbers in front of . 분
Here are few more examples:
5:20 –다섯시 이십분
6:40 –여섯시 사십분
10:05 –열시 오분
 Wrap up!

SINO-KOREAN NUMBERS NATIVE-KOREAN USE OF SINO-KOREAN

How we form numbers by
combining small numbers with
various large number words.
NUMBERS NUMBERS
How we form numbers up to 99 How we talk about the date, count
using double-digit numbers that time, talk about money and phone
end in zero and single-digit numbers.
numbers.

USE OF NATIVE-KOREAN EXCEPTIONS

NUMBERS
How we use both numbers systems
How we use native-Korean to count months, and also to tell
numbers to count things. the time.
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