Korean numerals

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The Korean language has two regularly used sets of numerals: a native Korean system and Sino-Korean system. The native Korean number system is used for general counting, like counting up to 99. It is also used to count people, hours, objects, ages, and more. Sino-Korean numbers on the other hand are used for purposes such as dates, money, minutes, addresses, phone numbers, and numbers above 99.

Contents

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;十五), 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 follows 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 (열번) means "ten times" while sip beon (십번;十番) means "number ten."

When denoting the age of a person, one will usually use sal () for the native Korean numerals, and se (;) for Sino-Korean. For example, seumul-daseot sal (스물다섯 살) and i-sib-o se (이십오 세;二十五歲) 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;三十五分) 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 (세시) means '03:00' or '3:00 a.m./p.m.' and sip-chil si (십칠 시;十七時) or yeol-ilgop si (열일곱 시) means '17:00'.

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

NumberNative Korean cardinalsAttributive forms of native Korean cardinals
Hangul McCune–Reischauer Revised Hangul McCune–Reischauer Revised
1하나hanahan
2tuldultudu
3setse
4netne
20스물sŭmulseumul스무sŭmuseumu

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:

Something similar also occurs in some Sino-Korean cardinals:

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

Korean has several words formed with two or three consecutive numbers. Some of them have irregular or alternative forms.

As for counting days in native Korean, another set of unique words are used:

The native Korean saheul (사흘;lit. 'three days') is often misunderstood as the Sino-Korean sail (사일;四日;lit. 'four days') due to similar sounds. The two words are different in origin and have different meanings.

Cardinal numerals

Number Sino-Korean cardinal numbers Native Korean cardinal numbers
Hanja Hangul Romanization Hangul Romanization
0 [1] /, / yeong, ryeong / gong
1il하나hana
2idul
3samset
4sanet
5o다섯daseot
6, yuk, ryuk여섯yeoseot
7chil일곱ilgop
8pal여덟yeodeol
9gu아홉ahop
10sipyeol
11十一십일sip-il열하나yeol-hana
12十二십이sip-i열둘yeol-dul
13十三십삼sip-sam열셋yeol-set
14十四십사sip-sa열넷yeol-net
15十五십오sip-o열다섯yeol-daseot
16十六십육, 십륙sim-nyuk, sip-ryuk [note 1] 열여섯yeol-yeoseot
17十七십칠sip-chil열일곱yeol-ilgop
18十八십팔sip-pal열여덟yeol-yeodeol
19十九십구sip-gu열아홉yeol-ahop
20二十이십i-sip스물seumul
30三十삼십sam-sip서른seoreun
40四十사십sa-sip마흔maheun
50五十오십o-sipswin
60六十육십, 륙십yuk-sip, ryuk-sip예순yesun
70七十칠십chil-sip일흔ilheun
80八十팔십pal-sip여든yeodeun
90九十구십gu-sip아흔aheun
100baek [note 2] on
1,000cheon즈믄 [note 2] jeumeun
10,000man [note 2] gol
100,000,000eok
1012jo
1016gyeong
1020hae
1024 [note 3] ja
1028 [note 3] yang
1032 [note 3] gu
1036 [note 3] gan
1040 [note 3] jeong
1044 [note 3] jae
1048 [note 3] geuk
1052 or 1056恒河沙항하사 [note 4] hanghasa
1056 or 1064阿僧祇아승기 [note 4] aseunggi
1060 or 1072那由他나유타 [note 4] nayuta
1064 or 1080不可思議불가사의 [note 4] bulgasaui
1068 or 1088無量大數무량대수 [note 4] muryangdaesu

Larger numbers

In numbers above 10, elements are combined from largest to smallest, and zeros are implied. Hanja and Hangul numerals are both multiplicative additive rather than positional; for example, the number 20 is written as the character for two (二/이) followed by the character for ten (十/십), resulting in two tens, or twenty (二十/이십).

Pronunciation

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

Several numerals have long vowels, namely (two), (three) and (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, 예순여섯yesun-yeoseot (sixty-six) is pronounced like [예순녀섣] (yesun-nyeoseot) and 칠십chil-sip (seventy) is pronounced like [칠씹]chil-ssip.

Constant suffixes used in Sino-Korean ordinal numerals

Beon (;), ho (;), cha (;), and hoe (;) are always used with Sino-Korean or Arabic ordinal numerals. For example, Yihoseon (이호선;二號線) is Line Number Two in a metropolitan subway system. Samsipchilbeongukdo (37번국도;37番國道) is highway number 37. They cannot be used interchangeably.

906호 (號) is 'Apt #906' in a mailing address. 906 without ho () is not used in spoken Korean to imply apartment number or office suite number. The special prefix je (;) 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 the financial sector, some Hanja for each Sino-Korean numbers are replaced by alternative ones to prevent ambiguity or retouching.

EnglishHangulHanjaFinancial Hanja
one [2]
two [3]
three [4]
four
five [5]
six, [6]
seven [7]
eight [8]
nine [9]
ten [10]
hundred [11]
thousand, [12] [13]

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

hana dul

sam

net

o

여섯

yeoseot

칠 팔

chil pal

아홉

ahop

gong

하나 둘여섯칠 팔아홉

hana dulsamnetoyeoseotchil palahopgong

Notes

References

See also