Category: Numbers

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Telephone Numbers: Say It Right

My first day in class in my Korean 2 one of my waterloos in studying Korean…numbers that is.  Anyhow, I think attending a formal class really helps you get through those difficult study points.   Well the big problem lies on memorizing these numbers to think that there is Native and Sino-Korean numbers (numbers borrowed from Chinese).

It was a surprise that in my first day of class, I was able to cope up with that challenge of memorizing at least the Sino Korean numbers.  Since Korean uses numbers based on what they are counting or stating,  I’ll share one practical use of Sino Korean numbers and this is when stating Telephone numbers.

공 (gong-0), 일 (il-1), 이(i- 2), 삼 (sam-3), 사 (sa-4), 오 (o-5), 육 (yuk-6), 칠 (chil-7), 팔 (pal-8), 구 (ku-9) and 십 (ship-10).  These are the basics although 십 will not be used.   So how do i say telephone numbers?

  • 711-3852 is 칠 일 일에 삼 팔 오 이
  • (0918) 922- 0448 is 공구일 팔 구 이 이에 공 사 사 팔

The dash in the number is denoted by marker 에 right before the last number. So you might be hearing numbers with ‘e’ sound when being dictated with phone numbers.

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Dates

Last posts was all about time, it’s going to be dates this time around.  During my first few days of posting, I was really aiming for Hangul lesson a day… admittedly I couldn’t keep up with a daily posting due to an equally important thing –my bread and butter.  Anyway,  it was foolish for me to include dates in Korean in my post during those times as one of the features of blogging is to have date and time stamp of post.

Interestingly, when giving dates in Korean the rule is to start from the longest to the shortest time element.  This is opposite how dates are relayed in English.  For example, in English we would normally say:

2:30 PM, Monday, July 14, 2008

In Korean this will be expressed as: 이천팔년 칠월 십사일 월요일, 오후 두시 삼십분 (ichon.palnyon, chilwol shipsa.il wolyoil, ohu dushi samshippan).  Literally this translates to:

  • 이천팔년 – 2008
  • 칠월 십사일 – July 14 day
  • 월요일 – Monday
  • 오후 두시 삼십분 – afternoon 2 o’clock 30 minutes

So with just the date the format is simply 이천팔년 칠월 십사일  which is 2008 July 14 or in most cases you will see this format 2008년 7월 14일 (literally year 2008 7th month 14th day).

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Counting Months

I almost skipped this lesson.  I have posted topics on counting years and weeks already.  Months can be counted with either pure Native Korean or Sino-Korean numerals.  Months(in duration) can be counted in Korean using 달 (dal, native) or 개월 (gae wol, Sino-Korean) as marker.  So one month can be expressed as 한 달 (han dal) or 일 개월 (il gaewol).

In talking about months as in January, February March etc, knowing how to count 1 to 12 in Sino-Korean plus the constant marker 월 (wol)  followed by optionally pronounced marker 달 (dal) is the key.  In a mathematical expression the formula is <Sino-Korean Number>+ 월 + 달.

Below are the months in Korea, 달 is enclosed in parenthesis indicating it’s optionally pronounced:

  • 일월 (달) – ilwol (dal), January
  • 이월 (달) – iwol (dal), February
  • 삼월 (달) – samwol (dal), March
  • 사월 (달)  – sawol (dal), April
  • 오월 (달)  – owol (dal), May
  • 유월 (달)  – yuwol (dal), June
  • 칠월 (달) – chilwol (dal), July
  • 팔월 (달) – palwol (dal), August
  • 구월 (달) – guwol (dal), September
  • 시월 (달) – shiwol (dal), October
  • 십일월 (달) – shipilwol (dal), November
  • 십이월 (달) – shipiwol (dal), December
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More on Time

Still on expressing time, in English we creatively express the time by using phrases like it’s 15 minutes past the hour of 10 in the morning or it’s 45 minutes before 11 in the morning.  In Korean there is also some other ways of expressing time similar to that.  12:40am can be expressed:

  • 아침 열두 시 사십 분 (achim yeoldu shi saship pun) the usual way but the other way is to say;
  • 오후 한 시 일십 전 (ohu han shi ilship cheon) which is actually 20 minutes before 1 o’clock in the afternoon literally this is 12:40am.  This is how to say it in Korean similar to the italcized numeral expression above.

We also usually hear stressed on time expression such as at exactly 1:30.  Thi is expressed as 정각(에) cheonggak(e) in Korea as such 한 시 삼십 정각에 (han shi samship cheonggake) is ‘at exactly 1:30’.

For the purpose of telling time 시 (shi) pertains to hour or o’clock but this cannot stand alone as mentioned in my previous post on markers.  For hours pertaining to duration or time in general, 시간 (shican) is used.

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What Time is it?

Telling the time (시간 – shican) in Korean is a little complicated especially if you are not familiar with the Native and Sino-Korean Numbers.  Generally, in expressing time in Korea, the Native Korean numbers are used for the hours while for the minutes the Sino-Korean is used. Basic formula would be:

  • Hours: Native Korean number followed by -시 (shi) which stands for o’clock (this is to mark the hour)
  • Minutes: Sino-Korean number followed by -분 (pun) which stands for minutes

So to say 1:40, it’s 한 시 사십 분 (han shi saship pun).  There is also a marker used to express half past an hour.  Like when you normally would state in English half past 12 o’clock, half past the said hour is expressed using the marker 반 (ban). Therefore this will be 열두 시 반 (yeoldu shi ban) in Korean.

To be more precise in expressing the time, AM (in the morning) and PM (in the afternoon) is normally added after the time.   While in English this indicators are placed after the hour, in Korean, this can be found in the beginning of the time expression:

  • 아침 (achim) or 오전 (ocheon) for AM or morning
  • 오후 (ohu) for PM specifically afternoon
  • 밤 (bam) for PM specifically evening

So,

  • 아침 한 시 사십 분 (achim han shi mahun pun) is 1:40 am.  Literally its Morning or AM 1:40.
  • 오후 한 시 사십 분 (ohu han shi mahun pun)  1:40 pm
  • 밤 열 시 일십 분 (bam yeol shi ilship pun) is 10:10 pm or 10:30 in the evening
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Counting Years

This post reminds me of the song from my favorite Korean R&B singer 일년 이면 (ilyon imyon) which literally means One Year Passed but the English title is official A Year Has Passed.  Learning about numbers made me realize that 일년 does no necessarily mean year alone.

Anyway similar to how weeks are counted, both Native and Sino-Korean numbers can be used to count years, the only difference is the marker.  For Native Korean numbers it is followed by the marker 해 (hae) and for Sino-Korean number it’s 년 (nyon). So to say 2 years in Korean one may be able to hear 두해 (du hae) or 이년 (inyon).

However, it’s more common to hear counting of years using the Sino-Korean numbers rather than the native ones when its more than 2 years. 

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Counting Weeks

It’s really all about numbers and counting right now. 

Counting weeks allows both the use of the Native and Sino-Korean numbers although the latter is preferred.  Numeral expression for weeks can be as follows:

  • 주일 (ju-il) which is literally weeks
  • 주간 (ju-kan) means similar to in weeks time or

So to say one week, we can either use 일 주일 (il ju-il) or  한 주일 (han ju-il).  Replace 한 with 세 or 삼 then you have 3 weeks in Native and Sino-Korean respectively.  Remember the rule with 하나, 둘, 셋 and 넷 when used before counter/noun it counts (the last sound is dropped).  Another tip is that when counting weeks the Sino-Korean way, removing 일 (il) would leave 주 (ju) and it will still mean week such that 일 주일  would still mean one week even if its 일 주.

For the expression like:

  • Q:  How long will it take to finish the project?
  • A:  In four weeks time.

The answer (A) can be expressed as 네 주간 있어요 (Ne jukan issoyo).  This expression is more suitable for stating limit or scope using week as period of measure as in completion of something.

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Classifiers – Markers for Counting

I have been mentioning about markers on my previous posts regarding numbers.  This is one characteristics of the Korean Language.  They use certain markers to classify what is being counted.  They are normally called Classfier, Counter or Marker.  Today, I am posting about these markers and some of the rules to follow in using it.

It’s really hard to explain the counterpart in English as some do not have any equivalent.  Like when you want to say 5 dogs, that is it in English but in Korean it can be expressed as  개 다 마리 (kae da mari) which is directly translated as dog 5 mari.  Mari is the classifer which do not have an English counter part.  As mentioned in my previous post on Native Korean numerals, mari is used to indicate that animals or fish is being counted.

Below are Classifiers used with Native Korean Numbers, note that those preceeded with (-) cannot used independently as noun the other therefore can be used as a stand-alone noun if needed:

For the above mentioned classfiers, Sino-Korean numbers can also be used for numbers 20 and above, therefore, one can encounter 60 bottles as either 예순 병 (yesun byong) or 육십 병 (yokship byong).

Below are Classifiers used with Sino Korean Numbers:

It’s good to note that in both cases the classifier -분  can be used with Native or Sino-Korean number, the meaning (minutes or esteemed person) can be derived based on the content of the sentence.

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Sino-Korean Numbers

Given that the native Korean numbers are just up to 99, the numbers borrowed from Chinese called Sino-Korean Numbers are therefore widely used purely or in combination with Native Korean numerals.  Check the link to know the Sino Korean Numbers.

Sino Korean numbers are generally used to express the following:

  • Dates (시월 십일 – shiwol ship-il or October 10)
  • Money (이천 원 – ichon won or 2000 WON)
  • Foreign loan words
  • Minutes and Seconds (hours are expressed using Native Korean numbers)

Years are normally counted using the Sino-Korean numbers followed by marker 년 (-nyon) which means year, an example would be 삼년 (samnyon) – 3 years.  Counting years in Native Korean number is acceptable although it is a common practice to use this numeral up 2 years and it is followed by marker 해 (hae) instead of inyon. 

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Native Korean Numbers

On this post, I wanted to focus more on the Native Korean numerals which is surprisingly up to 99 only.  As mentiond in the Korean Number section for numbers above 99 the Sino-Korean are used.   The formula is also provided in that page.

There are peculiarities in using the Native Korean numbers.  하나 (hana), 둘 (dul), 셋 (set) and 넷 (net)  which are 1..2..3…4 respectively drops the last sound before the word it counts.  Note that the character ㅅ in 셋 (set) and 넷 (net) are pronounced as ‘t’ when it occurs as final consonant.  As an example, instead of saying 하나 잭 hana chaek , you will only hear ha chaek which means one book.  This goes the same for 둘, 셋 and 넷 which will be written and pronounced du, se and ne.  This rule applies to count number 20 스물 (seumul) which drop the sound ‘l’ as well when used right before the word that its counting.

Furthermore, 셋 (3)  and 넷 (4)  are pronounced as sok and nek respectively if the noun or counter it follows begin with ㄷor ㅈ.

There are also counters that is being used along with Native Korean numbers.  Counters are like identifiers of the item being counted, its hard to tell the counterpart for in some there is non.  Like we can say 3 chickens or 3 head of chicken in English but in  Korean its just 3 chicken –>닭 세 마리 (dal se mari) literally this is chicken (닭) 3 (세, remember the rule drop the last sound).  Now 마리 (mari) is actually a counter or classfier. This is something which do not have counter part in English maybe comparable to school as in school of fish or herd of cows etc.  This classifier is used for counting animals and fish.

There are a lot of classifiers or counters that goes with Native Korean numerals I will discuss this in my next post.