Let's Learn Korean/ Hangul!! (한국어 / 한글을 배우자 !!) LEVEL1 [COMPLETE]

Lesson 20

In lesson number 15, we introduced some sino-Korean numbers:

일 [il = one]
이 [i = two]
삼 [sam = three]
사 [sa = four]
오 [o = five]
육 [yuk = six]
칠 [chil = seven]
팔 [pal = eight]
구 [gu = nine]
십 [sip = ten]
백 [baek = hundred]
천 [cheon = thousand]
만 [man = ten thousand], etc.

Now let's have a look at some native Korean numbers. There are cases where sino-Korean numbers are used, cases where native Korean numbers are used, and there are also some cases where sino-Korean numbers and native Korean numbers are used together.

For example:

1. When you tell the time, you have to use native Korean numbers to say the hour and sino- Korean numbers to say the minute.

2. When you say your age in everyday conversations, you use native Korean numbers, but in some very formal settings like in the court of law or in a formal report, sino-Korean numbers are used to express your age.

3. When you are counting years, you can use either sino-Korean numbers or native Korean numbers, but the words that you use for counting the years change depending on whether you use sino-Korean numbers and native Korean numbers.

So how do you determine which number system to use in which situation? You don't have to try to, and you can't really generalize the usages of the two different number systems. It is best to just learn to use the different number systems along with the fitting context.

Now, let us go over the native Korean numbers and practice saying how old we are.

Native Korean numbers

1 하나 [ha-na]
2 둘 [dul]
3 셋 [set]
4 넷 [net]
5 다섯 [da-seot]
6 여섯 [yeo-seot]
7 일곱 [il-gop]
8 여덟 [yeo-deol]
9 아홉 [a-hop]
10 열 [yeol]

From 11 to 19 is simple. You just put the number 10 and add another number after it.

(Ex)

열 (10) + 하나 (1) = 열하나 [yeol-ha-na] (11)

열 (10) + 아홉 (9) = 열아홉 [yeol-a-hop] (19)

20 스물 [seu-mul]

The same rule as above for 11 through 19 applies to
21-29, 31-39, 41-49, and etc

30 서른 [seo-reun]

40 마흔 [ma-heun]

50 쉰 [swin]

60 예순 [ye-sun]

70 일흔 [i-reun]

80 여든 [yeo-deun]