Numbers 0-10
The Native Korean system is typically used for counting small numbers, expressing age, and certain counters. In this lesson, we'll focus on learning the Native Korean numbers from 0 to 10, how to count beyond 10, how to express age, and how to use these numbers with counters.
| English | Korean |
| 1 | 하나 (hana) |
| 2 | 둘 (dul) |
| 3 | 셋 (set) |
| 4 | 넷 (net) |
| 5 | 다섯 (daseot) |
| 6 | 여섯 (yeoseot) |
| 7 | 일곱 (ilgop) |
| 8 | 여덟 (yeodeol) |
| 9 | 아홉 (ahop) |
| 10 | 열 (yeol) |
Hangul reminder: the ㅅ located as 2nd consonant in 다섯 is pronounced as a light "t".
Counting Beyond 10
This is where the native system differs from the sino-korean system.
Here, you would not express 20 as "2 times 10". Each group of 10 possesses its own name. Then you need to combine this name with the digit that comes after.
For example, the word for 20 is 스물, and 25 is 스물다섯.
- 1110 + 1 : 열하나 (yeol hana)
- 1210 + 2 : 열둘 (yeol dul)
- 20스물 (seumul)
- 21스물하나 (seumul hana)
- 30서른 (seoreun)
- 36서른여섯 (seoreun yeoseot)
- 40마흔 (maheun)
- 47마혼일곱 (seumul hana)
- 50쉰 (swin)
- 53쉰셋 (swin saet)
- 60예순 (yesun)
- 68예순여덜 (yesun yeodeol)
- 70일흔 (ilheun)
- 80여든 (yeodeun)
- 90아흔 (aheun)
- 99아흔하홉 (aheun ahop)
Expressing Age
When expressing age in Korean, Native Korean numbers are used along with the word 살 (sal), which is a word for age counting which can be translated as "years old."
You will often hear people ask you:
- 몇 살이에요How old are you?
To this question, you can answer:
- 열한 살이에요I’m 11 years old
- 스물다섯 살이에요I’m 25 years old
- 서른네 살입니다I’m 34 years old
- 쉰여덜 살이야I’m 58 years old
As you can see there is a special rule that is applied to the first 4 numbers of the native system: when you use them to count something, they are transformed this way:
- 하나한:한 살
- 둘두:두 살
- 셋세:세 살
- 넷네:네 살
Common Counters
To quantify people, objects or pets, Korean use specific words for each category of words. Therefore to say "1 cat (고양이)", you would not say "한 고양이". You would need to use the word "마리" which is the counter for animals. Then "1 cat" becomes: 고양이 한 마리
It's often said that the Korean language has over 100 counters. While that's technically true, there's no need to feel overwhelmed. In everyday life, Koreans only use a small number of these counters.
The most common counter that you absolutely must remember is 개 (gae), which is a general counter that works for every object. This word is quite helpful when you forgot the specific counter for a thing. However, it is of course recommended to use the appropriate counter whenever you know them and especially in more formal contexts.
Be careful to not use 개 (gae) when referring to people or pets.
Other common counters include:
- 명 or 분 for people (분 being the polite form)
- 마리 for animals
- 권 for books
- 병 for bottles
- 잔 for cups, drinks, glasses
- 장 for paper sheets
- 대 for vehicles & machines
Examples:
- 사과 두 개2 apples
- 팬 다섯 개5 pens
- 커피 두 잔 마셨어요I drank two cups of coffee
- 종이 일곱 장 필요해요I need seven sheets of paper
- 물 네 병 주세요Please give me four bottles of water
- 강아지 한 마리 있어요I have/there is one puppy
- 책 다섯 권 샀어요I bought five books
- 사과 여섯 개 있어요There are 6 apples
Applying the politeness level explained above for 명/분. Entering a restaurant could give the following exchange:
- 몇 분이신가요?How many people are you?
- 세 명이에요We are 3 people
The most important thing that you have to know with this lesson is:
Don't stress it! You will get used to them little by little as you learn more vocabulary and practice more.
As you improve and learn more stuff, and simply just as time goes by, you can check out your counter knowledge with our flashcards set.
We didn't want to overwhelm you so we kept the above list short, but we added more of them that are just as useful in the set below