Korean numerals

The Korean language has two regularly used sets of numerals, a native Korean system and Sino-Korean system.

Construction

For both native and Sino- Korean numerals, the teens (11 through 19) are represented by a combination of tens and the ones places. For instance, 15 would be sib-o (십오), but not usually il-sib-o in the Sino-Korean system, and yeol-daseot (열다섯) in native Korean. Twenty through ninety are likewise represented in this place-holding manner in the Sino-Korean system, while Native Korean has its own unique set of words, as can be seen in the chart below. The grouping of large numbers in Korean follow the Chinese tradition of myriads (10000) rather than thousands (1000). The Sino-Korean system is nearly entirely based on the Chinese numerals.

The distinction between the two numeral systems is very important. Everything that can be counted will use one of the two systems, but seldom both. Sino-Korean words are sometimes used to mark ordinal usage: yeol beon (열 번) means "ten times" while sip beon (십(十) 번(番)) means "number ten."

When denoting the age of a person, one will usually use sal (살) for the native Korean numerals, and se (세) for Sino-Korean. For example, seu-mul da-seot sal (스물다섯 살) and i-sib-o se (이십오 세) both mean 'twenty-five-year-old'. See also East Asian age reckoning.

The Sino-Korean numerals are used to denote the minute of time. For example, sam-sib-o bun (삼십오 분) means "__:35" or "thirty-five minutes." The native Korean numerals are used for the hours in the 12-hour system and for the hours 0:00 to 12:00 in the 24-hour system. The hours 13:00 to 24:00 in the 24-hour system are denoted using both the native Korean numerals and the Sino-Korean numerals. For example, se si (세 시) means '03:00' or '3:00 a.m./p.m.' and sip-chil si (십칠 시) or yeol-ilgop si (열일곱 시) means '17:00'.

For counting above 100, Sino-Korean words are used, sometimes in combination: 101 can be baek-hana or baeg-il.

Some of the native numbers take a different form in front of measure words:

Number	Native Korean cardinals			Attributive forms of native Korean cardinals
	Hangul	McCune–Reischauer	Revised	Hangul	McCune–Reischauer	Revised
1	하나	hana		한	han
2	둘	tul	dul	두	tu	du
3	셋	set		세	se
4	넷	net		네	ne
20	스물	sŭmul	seumul	스무	sŭmu	seumu

The descriptive forms for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 20 are formed by "dropping the last letter" from the original native cardinal, so to speak. Examples:

• 한 번 han beon ("once")
• 두 개 du gae ("two things")
• 세 시 se si ("three o'clock"), in contrast, in North Korea the Sino-Korean numeral 삼 "sam" would normally be used; making it 삼시 "sam si"
• 네 명 ne myeong ("four people")
• 스무 마리 seumu mari ("twenty animals")

Something similar also occurs in some Sino-Korean cardinals:

• 오뉴월 onyuwol ("May and June")
• 유월 yuwol ("June")
• 시월 siwol ("October")

The cardinals for three and four have alternative forms in front of some measure words:

• 석 달 seok dal ("three months")
• 넉 잔 neok jan ("four cups")

Numerals (Cardinal)

Number	Sino-Korean cardinals			Native Korean cardinals
	Hanja	Hangul	Latin	Hangul	Latin
0	零/〇	영 (N: 령), 공	yeong (N: ryeong), gong	-	-
1	一	일	il	하나	hana
2	二	이	i	둘	dul
3	三	삼	sam	셋	set
4	四	사	sa	넷	net
5	五	오	o	다섯	daseot
6	六	육 (N: 륙)	yuk (N: ryuk)	여섯	yeoseot
7	七	칠	chil	일곱	ilgop
8	八	팔	pal	여덟	yeodeol
9	九	구	gu	아홉	ahop
10	十	십	sip	열	yeol
11	十一	십일	sibil	열하나	yeolhana
12	十二	십이	sibi	열둘	yeoldul
13	十三	십삼	sipsam	열셋	yeolset
14	十四	십사	sipsa	열넷	yeolnet
15	十五	십오	sibo	열다섯	yeoldaseot
16	十六	십육 (N: 십륙)	simnyuk	열여섯	yeollyeoseot
17	十七	십칠	sipchil	열일곱	yeorilgop
18	十八	십팔	sippal	열여덟	yeollyeodeol
19	十九	십구	sipgu	열아홉	yeorahop
20	二十	이십	isip	스물	seumul
30	三十	삼십	samsip	서른	seoreun
40	四十	사십	sasip	마흔	maheun
50	五十	오십	osip	쉰	swin
60	六十	육십 (N: 륙십)	yuksip (N: ryuksip)	예순	yesun
70	七十	칠십	chilsip	일흔	ilheun
80	八十	팔십	palsip	여든	yeodeun
90	九十	구십	gusip	아흔	aheun
100	百	백	baek	온	on
1,000	千	천	cheon	즈믄	jeumeun
104	萬	만	man	드먼 / 골	deumeon / gol
108	億	억	eok	잘	jal
1012	兆	조	jo	울	ul
1016	京	경	gyeong	-	-
1020	垓	해	hae	-	-
1024	秭	자	ja	-	-
1028	穰	양	yang	-	-
1032	溝	구	gu	-	-
1036	澗	간	gan	-	-
1040	正	정	jeong	-	-
1044	載	재	jae	-	-
1048	極	극	geuk	-	-
1052 or 1056	恒河沙	항하사	hanghasa	-	-
1056 or 1064	阿僧祇	아승기	aseunggi	-	-
1060 or 1072	那由他	나유타	nayuta	-	-
1064 or 1080	不可思議	불가사의	bulgasaui	-	-
1068 or 1088	無量大數	무량대수	muryangdaesu	-	-

Pronunciation

The initial consonants of measure words and numbers following the native cardinals 여덟 ("eight", only when the ㅂ is not pronounced) and 열 ("ten") become tensed consonants when possible. Thus for example:

• 열 셋 yeolset (thirteen) is pronounced like [열쎗] yeolsset
• 여덟 권 yeodeolgwon (eight (books)) is pronounced like [여덜꿘] yeodeolkkwon

Several numerals have long vowels, namely 둘 (two), 셋 (three) and 넷 (four), but these become short when combined with other numerals / nouns (such as in twelve, thirteen, fourteen and so on).

The usual liaison and consonant-tensing rules apply, so for example, 예순 여섯(sixty-six) is pronounced like [예순녀섣] (yesunnyeoseot) and 칠십 chilsip (seventy) is pronounced like [칠씹] chilssip.

Constant suffixes used in Sino-Korean ordinal numerals

번 (番), 호 (號) ,차 (次), and 회 (回) are always used with Sino-Korean or Arabic ordinal numerals. For example, 이호선 (二號線) is Line Number Two in metropolitan subway system. 37번국도 (37番國道) is Highway Number 37. They cannot be used interchangeably. 906호 (號) is 'Apt #906' in mailing address. 906 without 호 is not used in spoken Korean to imply apartment number or office suite #. Special prefix 제(第) is usually used in combination with suffixes to designate a specific event in sequential things such as the Olympics.

Substitution for disambiguation

In commerce or financial sector, some hanja for each Sino-Korean numbers are replaced by alternative ones to prevent ambiguity or retouching.

English	Hangul	Regular Hanja	Financial Hanja
one	일	一	壹
two	이	二	貳
three	삼	三	參
four	사	四	肆
five	오	五	伍
six	육 (N: 륙)	六	陸
seven	칠	七	柒
eight	팔	八	捌
nine	구	九	玖
ten	십	十	拾
hundred	백	百	佰
thousand	천	千	仟, 阡

For verbally communicating number sequences such as phone numbers, ID numbers, etc., especially over the phone, native Korean numbers for 1 and 2 are sometimes substituted for the Sino-Korean numbers. For example, o-o-o hana-dul-hana-dul (오오오 하나둘하나둘) instead of o-o-o il-i-il-i (오오오 일이일이) for '555-1212,' or sa-o-i-hana (사-오-이-하나) instead of sa-o-i-il (사-오-이-일) for '4521,' because of the potential confusion between the two similar-sounding Sino-Korean numbers.

For the same reason, military transmissions are known to use mixed native Korean and Sino-Korean numerals: 하나 둘 삼 넷 오 여섯 칠 팔 아홉 공.

Notes

• Note 1: ^ Korean assimilation rules apply as if the underlying form were 십륙 |sip.ryuk|, giving simnyuk instead of the expected sibyuk.
• Note 2: ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ These names are considered archaic, and are not used.
• Note 3: ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ The numbers higher than 10²⁰ (hae) are not usually used.
• Note 4: ^ ^ ^ ^ The names for these numbers are from Buddhist texts; they are not usually used. Dictionaries sometimes disagree on which numbers the names represent.

References

• J.J. Song The Korean language: Structure, Use and Context (2005 Routledge) pp. 81ff.

See also

• Korean language
• Korean count word
• List of Korea-related topics