LinguaTwo number systems, and this is the first
Korean counts in two systems and uses both every day. The Sino-Korean numbers, borrowed from Chinese centuries ago, are the ones for money, phone numbers, dates, minutes, floors and anything written in digits: 일 이 삼 사 오 육 칠 팔 구 십 for 1 to 10. Everything above ten is built by stacking: 십일 is 11, 이십 is 20, 이십오 is 25, 구십구 is 99. There is no separate word for eleven or twelve, and no and.
Hundreds, thousands, and the ten-thousand
백 is a hundred, 천 a thousand, 만 ten thousand – and 만 is a unit of its own, so a hundred thousand is 십만 (ten ten-thousands) and a million is 백만. A round number drops the 일: it is 백, not 일백; 천, not 일천; 만, not 일만. Korean prices live in these units: 오천 원, 만 이천 원, 삼만 원. Zero in a phone number is 공, and the digits are read one by one with a small pause at the hyphen: 010-1234-5678 is 공일공 일이삼사 오육칠팔.
| Digit | Sino-Korean |
|---|---|
| 1 | 일 |
| 2 | 이 |
| 3 | 삼 |
| 4 | 사 |
| 5 | 오 |
| 6 | 육 |
| 7 | 칠 |
| 8 | 팔 |
| 9 | 구 |
| 10 | 십 |
| 100 | 백 |
| 1,000 | 천 |
| 10,000 | 만 |
제 번호는 공일공 이삼사오예요My number is 010-2345.
삼만 오천 원이에요It is thirty-five thousand won.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 일 | one (Sino-Korean) | 일 번 버스예요 It is the number one bus. |
| 이 | two (Sino-Korean) | 이 번 버스예요 It is the number two bus. |
| 삼 | three (Sino-Korean) | 삼 층에 있어요 It is on the third floor. |
| 사 | four (Sino-Korean) | 사 번 출구예요 It is exit number four. |
| 오 | five (Sino-Korean) | 오 층이에요 It is the fifth floor. |
| 십 | ten (Sino-Korean) | 십 번이에요 It is number ten. |
| 백 | hundred | 백 원이에요 It is one hundred won. |
| 천 | thousand | 천 원 있어요? Do you have a thousand won? |
| 만 | ten thousand | 만 원 있어요? Do you have ten thousand won? |
| 공 | zero (in numbers read digit by digit) | 공일공이에요 It is 010. |
Exercises
This lesson has 11 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 4
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 2
- translate the sentence: 1
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which is the Sino-Korean word for *three*?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.