Native numbers and counters

The second system: 하나, 둘, 셋

The native Korean numbers count things you can point at: people, objects, animals, cups, hours of the clock, years of age. From one to ten they are 하나 둘 셋 넷 다섯 여섯 일곱 여덟 아홉 열; twenty is 스물, thirty 서른, and the system fades out around a hundred, where everyone switches to Sino-Korean. Eleven is 열하나, twenty-three is 스물셋: tens first, then units, exactly as in the other system.

Counters, and the four numbers that shrink

Korean does not say three books; it says book three volume: noun, number, counter. The counters you need first are 개 for objects, 명 for people, 마리 for animals, 권 for books, 잔 for cups and glasses, and 살 for years of age. In front of a counter the first four numbers lose their last sound: 하나 becomes 한, 둘 두, 셋 세, 넷 네 – 사과 한 개, 학생 두 명, 고양이 세 마리, 책 네 권. Twenty does the same: 스물 becomes 스무 (스무 살). To ask how many, put 몇 where the number goes: 몇 개예요? 몇 명이에요? 몇 살이에요?

커피 두 잔 주세요Two coffees, please.

가족이 몇 명이에요?How many people are in your family?