W(s)WW 4- Numbers

I’m kind of violating my own blog by a) posting a multitude of words in one post, but it would be kind of weird and ineffective if I just posted one number and b) posting Word of the Week Wednesdays on a Thursday, but thanks to the power of owning the blog and controlling when things are posted, only the truly faithful would have noticed this. 

So in this blog I will teach you how to count in Korean.  While the number system is actually pretty easy to learn and totally makes sense, there’s also a little trick- there are TWO counting systems in Korean.  Have no fear, I will break these down as simply as possible.

Pure Korean (Native) Numbers:

Rule 1: Used for counting age and physical objects (with the exception of money), and ONLY the hour for time.

Rule 2: Only use Pure Korean numbers through 99, then switch to Sino-Korean.

Rule 3: The first four numbers change when they come before a noun.  To change the first four numbers, you drop the last sound.  Hanaà Han; Dulà Du; Setà Seh; Netà Neh

Rule 4: To form the numbers 11-99 follow this pattern:

20 + 7 = 27

Seumun + ilgop = seumun il gop

In other words, just add the two words together.

Sino-Korean Numbers:

Rule 1: Used for phone numbers, counting money, the date, and ONLY the minutes for time.

Rule 2: Putting together Sino-Korean numbers is very easy

20 + 2 = 22

ee ship + ee = ee ship ee

So if you want to look at it mathematically (which I know is usually not most people’s favorite subject), but it breaks it down quite easily, then:

2 x 10 = 10  (Multiply for the tens position)

ee x ship = ee ship

20 + 2 = 22  (Add for the ones position)

ee ship ee

Now that I’ve broken it down, it actually looks like a lot of rules, but in reality I promise it’s quite simple.  And honestly, the Pure Korean numbers are the harder ones, and you don’t really use them unless you’re buying train tickets.  But it’s not like you’ve got 25 kids to purchase for, so usually it’s only dugeh, or if the parents come to visit then negeh.

And to give a perfect example with both, let’s tell time.  It is currently 9:46, so in Korean this would translate as ahop shi (literally 9 hours) sah ship yok bun  (literally 4 “times” 10 “plus” 6 minutes).  Good luck and let me know if there’s any confusion!