UNIT 9

Numbers, ordinals, and plural marker ✺ t0l

Sino-Korean numbers and native Korean

numbers
In Korean, there are two parallel sets of numbers. One of these was bor-
rowed from Chinese long ago and is now part of the Korean number system.
The numbers belonging to this set are called Sino-Korean numbers. The
other set is of native origin. The numbers belonging to this set are called
native Korean numbers. These two sets are shown below.

Korean numbers
Arabic Sino-Korean Native Korean
0 㡗VὋ –
1 㧒G 䞮⋮G O䞲PQ
2 㧊G ⚮G O⚦PQ
3 ㌒G ㎡G O㎎PQ
4 ㌂G ⎍G O⍺PQ
5 㡺G ┺㎅
6 㥷G 㡂㎅
7 䂶G 㧒὇
8 䕪G 㡂▵
9 ῂG 㞚䢟
10 㕃G 㡊
11 㕃㧒G 㡊䞮⋮
12 㕃㧊G 㡊⚮
13 㕃㌒G 㡊㎡
14 㕃㌂G 㡊⎍
15 㕃㡺G 㡊┺㎅
16 㕃㥷G 㡊㡂㎅
17 㕃䂶G 㡊㧒὇
18 㕃䕪G 㡊㡂▵
19 㕃ῂG 㡊㞚䢟
20 㧊㕃G 㓺ⶒG O㓺ⶊPQ

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30 ㌒㕃G ㍲⯎
40 ㌂㕃G Ⱎ䦪
50 㡺㕃G 㓆
60 㥷㕃G 㡞㑲
70 䂶㕃G 㧒䦪
80 䕪㕃G 㡂✶
90 ῂ㕃G 㞚䦪
100 ⺇G ˀ
1,000 㻲G ˀ
10,000 ⰢG ˀ
100,000 㕃ⰢG ˀ
1,000,000 ⺇ⰢG ˀ
10,000,000 㻲ⰢG ˀ
100,000,000 㠋G ˀ

As seen above, the Korean number system is more systematic than the
English number system when it comes to the formation of higher numbers.
For instance, while English uses special words for 11 through 19, such as
eleven, twelve and so on, Korean numbers are formed “ten + one” ‫ڃ‬㕃㧒‫ڄ‬
or O㡊䞮⋮P, “ten + two” O㕃㧊P or O㡊⚮P and so on.
For multiples of ten, Sino-Korean numbers are simple combinations:
20 is “two + ten” O㧊㕃P, 30 is “three + ten” O㌒㕃P, and so on. However,
native Korean numbers have special words, as 20 is 㓺ⶒ, 30 is ㍲⯎,
and so on. In addition, the native Korean number set does not have the
number “zero.”
The use of Sino-Korean numbers and native Korean numbers differs
in a number of ways. First, as indicated by the asterisk mark above, native
Korean numbers “one,” “two,” “three,” “four,” and “twenty” have slightly
modified forms. Koreans use these modified forms when they count one
of these native numbers with a counter (e.g., ⳛ a counter for person). For
instance, one person would be 䞲Gⳛ, rather than 䞮⋮GⳛU
Second, Koreans use native Korean numbers when counting a small
number of objects. For instance, three bottles of beers would be ⰻ㭒G
㎎⼧ (beer + three + bottles). However, when counting a large number
of objects, they prefer using Sino-Korean numbers, as “62 bottles of
beers” would be ⰻ㭒G㥷㕃㧊G⼧.
Third, from 100 and above, Koreans use only Sino-Korean numbers.
Consequently, 134 would be read as ⺇㌒㕃㌂. It is optional to add 㧒 to
the number that starts with 1, such as 100, 1000, and so on, however, it is
more common to say the number without it. For instance, for 100, saying
“⺇ (hundred)” is more common than saying “㧒⺇ (one hundred).”

125 ⺇㧊㕃㡺
247 㧊⺇㌂㕃䂶

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539 㡺⺇㌒㕃ῂ
764 䂶⺇㥷㕃㌂
1,457 㻲㌂⺇㡺㕃䂶
83,625 䕪ⰢG㌒㻲㥷⺇㧊㕃㡺

It is rare but you can read a number that is over 100, by combining a
Sino-Korean number and a native Korean number. For instance, 134 can
be read as ⺇㍲⯎G ⎍ (Sino-Korean number + native Korean number).
However, the use of Sino-Korean numbers is more dominant than a mixed
use of both sets of numbers.
Finally, Koreans in general use Sino-Korean numbers when doing math-
ematical calculations.

8 × 3 = 24 䕪GG ὇䞮₆G ㌒㦖GG㧊㕃㌂

12 + 7 = 19 㕃㧊G▪䞮₆G 䂶㦖GG㕃ῂ
9 − 4 = 5 ῂG ヒ₆G ㌂⓪G 㡺
20 ÷ 5 = 4 㧊㕃G⋮⑚₆G 㡺⓪G ㌂

Counting

There are two ways of counting countable objects. You can just use a
number by itself or use a number with a counter (the function of a counter
is to indicate the type of noun being counted). When counting without a
counter, you use native Korean numbers. For instance, for “two students,”
you can say 䞯㌳G⚮ (noun + number).

One student 䞯㌳G䞮⋮

Two students 䞯㌳G⚮
Three students 䞯㌳G㎡
Four students 䞯㌳G⎍
Five students 䞯㌳G┺㎅
Six students 䞯㌳G㡂㎅
Ten students 䞯㌳G㡊

Counting items with a counter can take the following structure: “noun
(being counted) + number + counter.” Consequently, for “five students”
you would say “䞯㌳ + ┺㎅ + ⳛ.”
When you use native Korean numbers with a counter, you should
remember that native Korean numbers for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 20 have slightly
different forms: 䞮⋮V䞲,G⚮V⚦,G㎡V㎎,G⎍V⍺, and 㓺ⶒV㓺ⶊ. Consequently,
one student would be “䞯㌳G 䞲 ⳛ” rather than “䞯㌳G 䞮⋮G ⳛ,” twenty
students would be “䞯㌳ 㓺ⶊ ⳛ” rather than “䞯㌳ 㓺ⶒGⳛ.”

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1 Korean person 䞲ῃ㧎G䞲Gⳛ

2 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G⚦Gⳛ
3 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㎎Gⳛ
4 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G⍺Gⳛ
5 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G┺㎅Gⳛ
6 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㡂㎅Gⳛ
14 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㡊⍺Gⳛ
15 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㡊┺㎅Gⳛ
20 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㓺ⶊGⳛ (or 䞲ῃ㧎G㧊㕃Gⳛ)
21 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㓺ⶒG䞲Gⳛ (or 䞲ῃ㧎G㧊㕃㧒Gⳛ)
32 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㍲⯎G⚦Gⳛ (or 䞲ῃ㧎G㌒㕃㧊Gⳛ)
43 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎GⰞ䦪G㎎Gⳛ (or 䞲ῃ㧎G㌂㕃㎎Gⳛ)
54 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㓆G⍺Gⳛ (or 䞲ῃ㧎G㡺㕃㌂Gⳛ)
65 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㡞㑲G┺㎅Gⳛ (or 䞲ῃ㧎G㥷㕃㡺Gⳛ)
76 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㧒䦪G㡂㎅Gⳛ (or 䞲ῃ㧎G䂶㕃㥷Gⳛ)
87 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㡂✶G㧒὇Gⳛ (or 䞲ῃ㧎G䕪㕃䂶Gⳛ)
98 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G㞚䦪G㡂▵Gⳛ (or 䞲ῃ㧎Gῂ㕃䕪Gⳛ)
107 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G⺇㧒὇Gⳛ (or 䞲ῃ㧎G⺇䂶Gⳛ)
145 Korean people 䞲ῃ㧎G⺇Ⱎ䦪G┺㎅Gⳛ (or 䞲ῃ㧎G⺇㌂㕃㡺Gⳛ)

Notice that that there is no change in 㓺ⶒ when it is combined with a num-

ber, as in “䞯㌳G㓺ⶒG䞲Gⳛ” (21 students). In addition, when the number
is large (e.g., above twenty), Sino-Korean numbers can be used as well.

Ordinals

The Sino-Korean and native Korean numbers differ in the formation of

ordinals (e.g., regarding order, rank or position in a series). For Sino-
Korean numbers, Koreans attach the prefix 㩲 to a number. For instance,
“the first” is 㩲G㧒, “the eleventh” is 㩲G㕃㧒, and so on. For native Korean
numbers, they add ⻞㱎 to a number. Accordingly, “the fifth” is ┺㎅G
⻞㱎, “the eleventh” is 㡊䞲G ⻞㱎, and so on. The only exception is that
䞮⋮ “the native number for one” is not used for the ordinal, but one
needs to use the special word, 㼁, as 㼁G⻞㱎, not 䞲G⻞㱎.

The first 㩲G㧒G 㼁G⻞㱎

The second 㩲G㧊G ⚦G⻞㱎
The third 㩲G㌒G ㎎G⻞㱎
The fourth 㩲G㌂G ⍺G⻞㱎
The fifth 㩲G㡺G ┺㎅G⻞㱎
The tenth 㩲G㕃G 㡊G⻞㱎
The sixteenth 㩲G㕃㥷G 㡊㡂㎅G⻞㱎
The twentieth 㩲G㧊㕃G 㓺ⶊG⻞㱎
The thirty-sixth 㩲G㌒㕂G㥷G ㍲⯎G㡂㎅G⻞㱎

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 Unit 9: Numbers, ordinals, plural marker ✺ 69

Plural marker ✺

You probably wonder by now whether Koreans care whether a noun is

singular or plural. It is because none of the examples above carry any
plural marker. The plural marker for Korean is ✺. However, its usage
differs from that of English, such as the plural “s.” English is very specific
with respect to number in that when there is more than one item, the item
must be marked by the plural “s.” However, Korean nouns are not specific
about the number. In other words, the Korean language does not have a
grammatical category of number.
For instance, “one student” in Korean is 䞲G 䞯㌳G and “five students”
is ┺㎅G 䞯㌳. Notice that the noun 䞯㌳ “student” does not undergo any
change in form. Consider the following sentence 㦮㧦䞮ἶG㺛㌗㧊G㧞㠊㣪.
The translation of this sentence can be fourfold, as shown.

I have a chair and a desk.

I have some chairs and a desk.
I have a chair and some desks.
I have some chairs and some desks.

You may wonder then when ✺ is used. Koreans optionally add ✺ to

the noun when they want to emphasize the plurality of the nouns they
are referring to. For instance, 䞯㌳㧊G 㢖㣪 may mean “a student comes”
and also mean “some students come.” However, Koreans can optionally
add ✺ as 䞯㌳✺㧊G 㢖㣪 “students come,” if they wish to emphasize the
plurality of 䞯㌳.
Koreans use ✺ for other cases too, such as adding the marker not only
to the noun but also to pronouns. For instance, although it may sound
redundant, Koreans can add ✺ to 㤆Ⰲ “we,” as in 㤆Ⰲ✺ “we.” Notice
that 㤆Ⰲ is already plural. Again, such usage is for adding emphasis.

Exercises
Exercise 9.1

Express the following Sino-Korean numbers in figures:

1 㕃䕪 6 㕃䂶 11 㧊㕃㌂
2 ῂ 7 㥷㕃㌒ 12 ῂ㕃㧊
3 ㌂㕃㧒 8 䂶㕃㡺 13 㧊⺇㌒㕃
4 䕪㕃㧒 9 㡺㕃㥷 14 㥷⺇䂶
5 㻲㌂⺇㡺㕃ῂ 10 ⺇㧊 15 ⰢG䕪㻲䂶⺇㌂㕃㥷

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