Chapter 11 of 17 · Explore the Korean path
Optional reference · Chapter 11 of 17
Counting things, and the extra word you need
Korean has two complete sets of numbers, one for counting things and one for measuring. You also need a counter word, and the first four numbers shorten in front of it.
≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- Open this when a number stops you; neither reading at the end contains one.
- Korean has two complete sets of numbers, both ordinary, both used every day.
- Native numbers count things — animals, people, hours; Sino-Korean numbers measure — money, minutes, dates.
- You cannot say “three dogs” without a counter word, and the order is noun, number, counter.
- The first four native numbers shorten in front of a counter: 하나
ha-na → 한 han.
You do not need this section to finish the lesson. Open it when a number or a price stops you — neither story at the end contains one. It is here because Korean counting surprises people, not because the path waits on it.
Korean has two complete sets of numbers. This is not a formality thing: both are ordinary, and which one you use depends on what you are counting. The native set counts things — animals, people, objects, hours, ages. The Sino-Korean set, borrowed from Chinese long ago, does measurements — money, minutes, dates, anything long.
The two sets of numbers, side by side
Read across each row to see the same number twice, once in each set. Which column you want depends on what is being counted.
| Native — for counting things | Sino — for measuring | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 하나 | 일 |
| 2 | 둘 | 이 |
| 3 | 셋 | 삼 |
| 4 | 넷 | 사 |
| 5 | 다섯 | 오 |
| 6 | 여섯 | 육 |
| 7 | 일곱 | 칠 |
| 8 | 여덟 | 팔 |
| 9 | 아홉 | 구 |
| 10 | 열 | 십 |
For reading fables you want the left column. The right column is here so that you recognise it when a price or a date turns up.
Counting needs a third word. You cannot say “three dogs”; you must say “dog, three, of-the-animal-kind”. That extra word is a counter, and English has a few of its own — three sheets of paper, two head of cattle.
Three counters worth knowing
A counter is the word that says what kind of thing you are counting. Pick the one that matches, and read the example beside it.
| Counter | For | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 개 | things, objects | 두 개 |
| 명 | people | 세 명 |
| 마리 | animals | 한 마리 |
Awkwardly, the counter for objects is spelled and said exactly like the word for dog. Context sorts it out, and Korean finds this no funnier than English finds “a bat”.
The first four numbers shorten before a counter
Follow each number from the shape it has on its own to the shape it takes in front of a counter. Only these four change.
I 나는
나는 새 두 마리를 본다.
na-neun sae du ma-ri-reul bon-da
The order is noun, number, counter — and the object tag 를 lands on the counter at the end of the lump, because the whole phrase counts as one thing.