One Two Buckle My Shoe: All You Need to Know about Numbers in Korean

Like other Asian languages, Korean is gaining popularity exponentially. Many Gen Z and millennials are really into local pop culture, habits, and trends. Sometimes, Korea seems to be ahead of the world by several years – its technology is truly unique. Learning Korean to better integrate into the system is a good idea. But where to start? Numbers in Korean are one of the first steps in gaining new language knowledge.

Introduction to Korean Number Systems

Residents of the country have two ways of using numbers: the Korean (native) and the Chinese-Korean system. They coexist and are used depending on the context. Let’s take a closer look at their features.

Sino-Korean Numbers

Chinese has a strong influence on the spelling and vocabulary of Koreans because many hieroglyphs are borrowed from classical Mandarin. You will often encounter Sino-Korean in more formal settings in your self-study journey: it is used for phone numbers, monetary amounts, large numbers over 100, and dates.

Native Korean Numbers

The Native Korean number system is more limited, as it is used in everyday life, and it is the easiest way how to count to ten in Korean. For example, “two apples” – 사과 두 개 (sagwa du gae), and “three cats” – 고양이 세 마리 (goyangi se mari). You can sometimes see them in modern advertisements or TV dramas.

Basic Numbers and Their Usage

The first step in getting to know the language is learning basic vocabulary. Why do you need to know sayings, slang, or BTS lyrics if you can’t use a single word in everyday speech? Today, we will look at the names of numbers in the two Korean systems and compare their pronunciation.

Korean Numbers 1–10

Numbers 1 to 100 are used in Native and Sino-Korean variants. At first, it is worth focusing on learning them, as you will use small numbers more often.

Honorable mention: cultural aspect. The existence of these systems emphasizes the depth and uniqueness of the language. Can you imagine that you can use different numbers 1–10 in Korean based on your purposes? This unique point only increases the interest of foreigners in learning.

Numbers 11–100

Despite the differences between Korean systems, they have the same format for composing two-digit numbers. You just need to combine the number of tens and units in one word. Hieroglyphs work the same way.

You’ve probably noticed the main difference between the two systems: native uses unique words for each tens, while Sino-Korean uses more standardized methods.

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Advanced Numbers

As we’ve already said, while Korean numbers 1–100 can be used in both ways, options above 100 are only used by the Sino-Korean number system. You can relax – study twice less! However, you should still remember how to form long numbers: the larger numbers come first, then the rest in descending order.

Numbers above 100

Like tens, large numbers are formed by combining thousands with other numbers. We use these words to describe them:

• 100: 백 (baek)
• 1,000: 천 (cheon)
• 10,000: 만 (man)
• 100,000: 십만 (sip-man)
• 1,000,000: 백만 (baek-man)

Most often, the terms are used when talking about amounts or dates. For example, to say the year 2003, you need to combine 2000 and 3: 이천 (icheon) = 2000 + 삼 (sam) = 3 + 년 (nyeon) = year.

Large Numbers and Combinations

A universal way to form numbers is easy to remember: you must start writing or saying the desired date or amount, beginning with the largest number in Korean. Here are some examples: 

• 150: 백오십 (baek-osip), where 백 (100) + 오십 (50). 
• 3,456: 삼천사백오십육 (samcheon-sabaek-osip-yuk), where 삼천 (3,000) + 사백 (400) + 오십 (50) + 육 (6).
• 23,456: 이만삼천사백오십육 (i-man-samcheon-sabaek-osip-yuk), where 이만 (20,000) + 삼천 (3,000) + 사백 (400) + 오십 (50) + 육 (6).
• 430,000: 사십삼만 (sa-sip-sam-man), where 사십 (40) + 삼만 (30,000). 
• 2,345,678: 이백삼십사만오천육백칠십팔 (i-baek-sam-sip -sa-man-o-cheon-yuk-baek-chil-sip-pal), where 이백 (200,000) + 삼십사만 (34,000) + 오천 (5,000) + 육백 (600) + 칠십팔 (78).

Large numbers require more skill and practice, so starting with simpler examples is worth it. Try to say numbers to yourself more often. For example, start counting in Korean or learn your phone number.

Example Sentences

Practicing and using new knowledge in dialogues is one of the most essential parts of learning a language. Let’s see how to use both systems in everyday speech:

• 매일 세 병의 물을 마셔요 (Maeil se byeong-ui mul-eul masyeoyo) – “I drink three bottles of water every day.” 
• 저는 십 편의 엑스맨 영화를 봤어요 (Jeoneun sip pyeon-ui ekseumaen yeonghwa-reul bwass-eoyo) – “I watched ten films about Wolverine.” 
• 귀하의 주문 금액은 삼 천칠백팔십이 원입니다 (Gwihaui jumun geumaeg-eun samcheon-chilbaek-palship-i won-imnida) – “The amount of your order is 3,782 won.”
• 책 출간일이 2035년 3월 20일로 변경되었습니다. (Chaek chulganil-i i-cheon-sam-sip-o-nyeon sam-wol i-sip-il-il-lo byeongyeong-doeeoss-eoyo) – “The release of the book was postponed to 03/20/2035.”

Like in Chinese, Koreans start writing the date with the year, then the month and day. Sino-Korean is used for this. The native system is evident in simple sentences that Koreans speak every day.

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Conclusion

Korean numbers are a voluminous and exciting topic to study: two number systems with a rich cultural background exist in parallel. Despite this, mastering this knowledge is logical and simple: large numbers are created from combinations of several words you will quickly memorize.