There are two sets of numbers in Korea, the native Korean and the Sino-Korean Numbers. Sino-Korean numbers are borrowed from Chinese. Generally speaking, for expression involving dates, money, foreign loanwords, minutes, seconds and counting beyond 99 Sino-Korean numbers are used otherwise its the native Korean numbers.
You might be wondering why some numbers are skipped in both numeral systems, this is because there are certain patterns to achieve the numbers in between.
In Native Korean, to express let say 11 it’s 열하나 (yolhana) so the formula is 10(열)+1(하나). This is the reason why after the number 10 only numbers in multiples of 10 are provided up to 90. So you have to memorize at least 18 numbers in Native Korean.
While in Sino-Korean, to express let say 32 it’s 삼십이 (sam-ship-i) so the formula is 3(삼) X 10 (십) + 2 (이). There are few numbers to memorize in Sino-Korean, with just 13 numbers to you can go up to a million already.
See related posts on how to deal with numbers. Check the archive.
It Started with Hangul 
How come for the Sino numbers, number 6’s romanization is “yok ~ ryok” but in Korean it says “yuk ~ ryuk” ?
It’s just a different romanization of the same Korean symbol. The pronounciation doesn’t change. The correct one, with Revised Romanization, since 2000, is O. If you copy paste the word from here into Google Translate you will hear the pronounciation.
육
Hi annie! Thanks for dropping by. My bad it’s really yuk~ryuk 🙂
Pls help me,my homework is to translate numbers into korean language
428796351
37875624
9325687
562431
78542
3562
789
26
9
Thank you in advance
Hi
Thank you for sharing this. But what about zero?
Just curious
Enno
hi just wanna share that zero is 공 (gong) or 영 (yong)
Hi Enno,
its 영 (zero) but lack of something is expressed more as 없다.
Zero – 없다. or 영 (yong)
am i right ?..
영 is zero 없다 is a verb that means not existent or not existing or lacking.
Hi Janey. In fact, I started last week studying
Korean and numbers were the first topic besides
the alphabet. This blog is really helpful. I will come
back often
Thank you for your explanation
Enno
Hi..
I like this blog. i’ve been looking for something like this.
Hi janey.. i agree with you, this blog is really helpful. Thank you all.
thank you very much!!
hey!!! absolutely helpful blog!!! ((: will definitely visit often! anyway, how long have you been learning korean language?
hi friends İ’m yaren Im from turkey Ilove you korea
w-xin can you teach korean language me
pleas pleas pleas and pleas
안녕하세요, 제인!
나는 한국어를 공부하는 인도네시아 학샌인데 마야이에요.
만나서 뵙게 반가워요.
I was googling about birthday message in Korean besides “생일 축하합니다” until I found out your blog. 이 blog-은 너무 좋아요!
Well, I just wanted to help you out about Enno’s question above. As I know, there’s actually ‘zero’ in Sino-Korea. It is called as 궁 (gung /goong/). So, when you have to say your phone number which has ‘zero’ in it, you can use it with the ‘zero’ in Sino-Korea (궁).
And about the romanization of 20 and 50 from Native Korean.. isn’t it “seumul” for 20 and “swin” for 50?
Well, sorry if you think I am the one who made mistakes. But honestly, I admire you so much for making this kind of blog (I was actually going to make the similar one but only it is using Indonesian to explain everything).
Good luck in learning Korean. And by the way, now you’re in my subscription list of GoogleReader.
마야씨 웹사이트을 방문해서 고마워요.
그래요, There is zero in Sino Korean Its 공 (Kong) =)
궁 (Kung or Goong) is Palace in Korean.
You are right the romanization is semeul and swin i just couldn’t change it
as I don’t have the image file (lazy to re-type).
다시 고마워요.
ahnjonghaseyo
im really greatful that i have found this page. i lovhangul and im learning korean as much as i can and this is realy a big help kahmsahamnida 🙂
아, 네. ‘공’인데요, was my mistake. LOL.
It’s because I am still learning too.
And about the romanization, 그래요.. 그래요.
하지만, it’s better to make a correction outside the image file so people won’t miss-understand. 😀 Well, it’s just my suggestion…
자, thanks for the warm welcome.
너무 고마워요.
I gotta visit here regularly!
I am confused about these 2 sentences “지금 몇 시 에요?” and
“지금 몇 시 예요?”
Which one is right or wrong?
Hi. Thanks for posting this. It’s really helpful. I’m going to visit often. =]
what’s the difference between sino and native korean?
Sino Korean is lifted from Chinese number while the native korean are well as the name goes their own word for number which is limited up to 99. Each type of number has corresponding use in Korean like money is counted using Sino Korean while for hours in time its normally the Native Korean
hi..im a korean lover and i want 2 learn how to speak read andwrite korean…pls teach me janey even basics only pls…:)
im knch from philippines… 10 y.o
hi, then what is 100, 1000 and 10000 in native korean?
thanks 🙂
they use Sino Korean numbers for anything above 99 =)
thanks! 🙂
How about in writing HOurs?
like it’s 2 a.m ?
i made a post about writing time. will make a repost…
I know of the good luck numbers in Chinese for wealth, health, fortune etc, but does Korea have similar numbers? Please let me know asap
not sure about the lucky number in Korea. That is something like cultural thing, there maybe but i have not read or learned about it yet.
Omi, now thinking it thru, sino-kor numbers do sound like Chinese! Yi – il, Er – ee, San – Sam, Si – Sa, Wu – o… Blablabla. (im not gona give a chinese lesson) X]
i really love how informative your blog. thanks a bunch! i cannot write in hangul thru my laptop, but im practicing writing it.. 🙂
Thanks for dropping by my site. nice to know you can pick up something helpful, keep on learning =) Fighting!
Why don’t you add the app for typing hangul? its free, you just have to google it. 🙂
when i watch korean variety shows..I always hear “hana.. deul.. set…!” Then isn’t “set” rather than “net”? hehe correct me if i’m wrong..i’m just a beginner too. :))
oops i’m really sorry i misread. 🙂
it was right. 🙂
Thanks so much for your lessons!! It really really helps me!!
i search for our home work., and its nice to found out that there is a web page like this..
i search for our home work and is nice to know that there is web page like this..
where can i find basic Korea words,that has a transcription of Korean letters?? thanks.
there are a lot of phrasebooks which are written in Korean (Hangul) that are translated in English and are also romanized. I only get to buy a wordbook written in Hangul and explained in English in Seoul. Locally in our country there is none. You may also try to search the web, i saw a lot of blogs and sites that talks about Korean language.
Hello everyone I am new in this blog and its really helpful. I just saw bae_yours question and i would like to say that there is even a site that teach you korean in which site the words are writen both in hangul then romanized and then english 🙂
wow, this is a very helpful site. Thanks!
wow. 🙂 thanks for this. kamsahamnida. 🙂 this site is very helpful, especially for me who is currently studying korean. 🙂
elow do you really know how to speak korean ?
thank you so much for this.
i wanna learn korean in my city
but there’s no korean course here.. 😦
and this number help me a lot
thanks
100 is it really baek or paek?
well if you have to follow the romanization standards endorsed by Korean government it should be baek the sound is gearing towards ‘b’ than ‘p’.
Actually i don’t have any comment because i am not familliar with korean numbers or any but i am highly interested to learn. So would you please get me a korean friend who can teach me
i have very few ones and we are not even language exchange partners.
hi.
plzzz teaching me korean
i am not even qualified to teach as i am also learning. i just share what i am learning.
annyeong haseyo ji-eruemuem ivy imnida hi..what is agyeo??i always heard..
aegyeo means do something cute or act cute it comes from the word aegi or aei which means baby. as you know babies are cute =)
i want to learn korean words and how to speak it…
Hello, I am new here and just saw your text and I decided to recommened you this site from where I am learning korean.Its very good and helpfull and in very easy way expresed
http://www.rocketlanguages.com/korean/rocket-korean-premium.php
I hope it will help you
hey im xuzette from phillipines i love also korean … most of all people in korea …
Anyong! i really like this blog, but the hangul for 50 ist it 쉰 or 쇤, if its 쉰 it will sound swin isnt it?
you are right it’s 쉰 my bad =) thank you for that will update it.
Hi I am from Azerbaijan/ I love so much Korean culture movie music I love you KOrea
So how would you write:
200,381,003
can you tell me please, thanks, because i tried on google it said it was:
이억삼십팔만천
but wouldn’t it be:
이억삼백팔십일천삼?
or:
이억삼십만팔만천삼?
You should read it as 이억 삼십팔만 천삼
you just have to write it 200, 381, 003 you just use the word for conversation or talking but when you write most Koreans write numbers as is.
What’s the difference between Sino Korean and Hangul itself?
there are two types of counting in Korea one is sino-korean (borrowed from chinese) the other one is native korean numbers which is limited to 99 so anything more than that there is no native counterpart they use sino korean that is why seconds are in sino-korean and counting of money too.
that’s right ma’am Janey
thank you because we need thos on taekwondo
hello am new her am from dubai
can u translate my name annie in korean word?.tnxs
i can only write your name its 안니 (an-ni)
I think 애니 would fit better. (am i interrupting you, janey? I just want to be a little help! ;-))))))………;ㅅ;)
아니요..선비남 고맙습니다. 그냥 너무 바빴어요!
mm, is this right?
~the difference of Sino and Native is that, Sino is used when it regards with the time and date except hours.
i think the Sino Korean number have other uses since Korean number is limited. Like money is counted using Sino Korean number.
Hi Janey,
I am a fundraiser in New Brunswick, Canada and there are many new families here from Korea. I would like to ask these families for donations for the hospital and would like some advice. Would there be certain times of year or certain amounts that would be respectful?
Thanks for your help,
Victoria
hi victoria – i am not familiar with thing, i am sorry =(
thanks for this! i’m teaching myself korean. i have a question though. how do you say 21 in native korean? seumul-hana?? does it apply to 30,40,50,60 ~ 99?
You’re right 🙂 i’m not the host of this blog. I just want to be a help
hello just wanna share some knowledge and to answer your question 21 will be seumul hana if you use 21 itself. but if you have to put a counter it should be pronounced as (e.g) 21 pcs of apple then it will be 사과 스물 한 개 (seumel han gae).and yes it also applies from 30-99.
TAKE NOTE OF THIS:
RULES for NATIVE KOREAN:
하나 + counter = example: 한 개 (걔)-is use to count things,fruits,veggies or it is commonly use in korean custom
둘+ counter= 두 개
셋+ counter= 세 개
넷+ counter= 네 개
스물 + counter= 스무 개
only those 5 numbers has their own rule ^^
I’m still a beginner level to learn Hangul. This blog really help me~
Kamsahamnida.. ^___^
😀 i needs to learn Korean for my taekwondo classes 😀 And to also talk in Korean to all my Korean budds! I love learning korean!!!
AnnyeongHaseyo!! can you be my friends in facebook ? just search mikaelaespero@yahoo.com ! thanks ! :*
thanks for the tutor . I’m very lucky to visit your’s.
hwaiting for this blog.
sorry if my words bad…
can you write my name qila in koraen ? please..
키라 (kila)
annyeong haseyo chonun yoon ji hye imnida !!!!!!
can u write my name in korean ?
yoon ji hye
and
knch…
kamsahamnida !
hello 🙂 i was just searching for some korean words then i found your blog, its very useful for me as a beginner..this is really interesting.. kamsahamnida!:)
anyonghaseyo~~
can you write the name jellyn and jeromica??
젤린 (Jellin)
제로미가 (jeromika)
I Like Korea for the food and….. SHINee!
Annyeonghasseyo. Je illeum-eum Syallom ibnida. Na nomu saranghaeyo Hangug. I’ve been learning Korean by myself and I find it very easy. Im really happy to have recently found out what the “o” can stand for. It can be written before a vowel or it can also stand for “ng” like in sarang. I’m so proud of my efforts. But it’s so hard for me since I do not have Korean friends to speak it with. I like this blog. It helped me learn a lot about the two types of Korean numbers. Kamsamnida. Annyeong!!!!
I know how you feel, I haven’t got anyone to speak Korean with either. 😦
Livemocha is an online community where you can take free lessons on learning Korean as well as practice with native speakers; if you haven’t got anyone to speak Korean with you, this a perfect place to practice.
Link: http://www.livemocha.com/learn-korean
Hi, what if I wanted to say 28,000 won?
이팔만원 (i-pal-man-won) 28,000 won
Oh no =(
It’s 이만팔천 (i-man-pal-cheon)
hi just wanna share i think 28,000 won is pronounced as i-man-phal-cheon-won
이만팔천 원…
annyeong haseyo…chonun yoon ji hye imnida…
i really like korean bec. of the food,language,and the people of korea…
my favorite food in korea is black bean noodles,bulgogi,dukbokki and many more…
janey,pls teach me korean even basics only… kamsahamnida !!!!!
jalga…
namja-boy
chuwahe-i like u
nanoh sheelo-i hate u
noh meewo-ur ugly
jalga-bye
annyeong-hello or bye
biane-sorry
konaso-finish
donjoseo-give me money
sarangahae-i love u (informal)
saranghamnida-i love u (formal)
eul chi ma-dont cry
napuda-not kind
am i right? pls correct me if i hav a wrong korean meanings…
kamsahanmida…
jalga…
most of what you wrote is right, just that some romanization is not.
나쁘다 (mappeuda) or 나쁜 (nappeun) means bad, literally
its mianhae but you can hear them say bianhae, the spelling is actually 미안해 (mianhae)
thank u for the corrections 🙂 ..
pls write my name in Korean.. Park sung hye and knch lhnn
can u translate this in Korean ?
Hi ! park su min i will really miss u when u go back to korea ..
pls.. kamsahamnida !
annyeong!
fake korean writing :
븍증 슨 옫 훃 hahah ! peace !
박성혜 (Park Sung Hye) I don’t know how to write knch lhnn in korean it doesn’t have vowel.
박수민 한국에 돌아 가서 정말 그리울거에요. I will truly miss you Park Sumin when you go back to Korea.
annyenghaseyo..janeybei
i love this blog, it is really helpful!
Could you please translate my name and write it in Korean please…
My name’s origins are ‘Jonar (Norwegian word ‘hariar’) = meaning Warrior’ and ‘Nardo (spanish-italian shortened ‘leonardo’) = meaning Strong or Hardy’, while my surname means ‘hill’.. please translate it into a korean name.. not just the literal translation please.. i badly want to know the equivalent of my name in korean name! kamsahamnida!
by the way I love City Hunter!! i got a crush on Park Min Young!
Li Min Ho is one of my Korean my Idol!
Hi jon thanks for visiting my blog. I am not capable of giving names in Korean. Judging from the descriptions you made i am not sure if this counts as a korean name:
산 전사 (San Jeonsa)
The way names are written in Korean is in this format first block is surname the next two block are name.
산 -means mountain in Korean
전사 – means warrior
u have worked hard, kamsahamnida!….
so, could you recommend any korean name suitable to me?
or could you advise me about my preference, like: “Eun Yeong Kwon”?
i heard that there is korean character that means “hill” which sounds romanised ‘eun’, while i got Yeong as ‘brave’ in exchange of ‘warrior’ and Kwon from ‘kwan’ that means ‘strong’… would you think this counts as a male Korean name that suits to be my name, as I described in the history of my Roman name?
hope to hear from you soon!!!.. 감사합니다 !
Hi Jon! i am not capable of giving Korean names 미안해요.
it’s OK Janey..!
i would try to find out.. =)
to know that their using chinese in their number system help me alot lol, as i m well verse in both chinese and english since i am from singapore.
Janey could you tell me what you use to learn korean please?
감사!
화이팅!!
감사! — thanks(informal)
화이팅!! fighting (it’s a way to cheer for someone)
hi .. i just wanna ask .. how do you say 28,19,21 in korean?
28 sumul yodolp / iship pal (korean native/sino korean)
19 yol ahop / ship gu
21 sumul hana / iship il
SOrry if this sounds stupid, but I’ve been into the Korean language scene for a few weeks and I was wondering if I could put my tag on some of the gifs or macros I make? My tag in English is ‘Chechi Lolcat’ and I tried to make it into hangul by making it Chechi Lolkat, (due to the lack of ‘C’ I could find :D) and it looks okay. I was just wondering if you thought that it would be correct enough or if a native speaker would be able to read it all right.
hmmm don’t know what chechi lolkat would mean in Korean =) if you write it in hangul it would be
체치 (chechi) 롤갓 (lolkat)
hi 🙂 erm i was wondering, are there 2 different zeroes for the different numeral systems? if there are, what are they? thank you! really love this site by the way! it is very helpful 😀 감사합니다!!
공 gong in native Korean and 영 in sino korean
hi. i’m learning Hangeul via EggBun but when it comes to typing ‘ball’ i can’t seem to find the correct keys. would you know? thanks
For the number 20 in native Korean, isn’t 스물 seumul, not “seumun”?
hi just wanna share yes you are right! 20 is 스물 (seumul)
thank you so much!
감사합니다 Janey~ this blog is really helpful since i am still a beginner~ ^^
how to say 100 million in korean?
100M is 억 (eok)
Okay…so i have 3 Q’s . 1st – how come20 in Native Korean is 스물 with an r/l at the end but it’s pronounced as seumuN? And 2nd – How come 6 in Sino Korean has 2 ways to write it? 3rd – So is there no zero for Native Korean? Because I think 공 or 영 is zero in Sino right? So what is the Native Korean for zero? Is there one?
there is zero in native korean and what you gave is right. i think those are some of the pronunciation nuances in Korean. like the place jongno is seoul is actually spelled 정로
Hey, sorry this is a stupid question, but I thought ‘t’ was a ㄷ (or a variation on that), but in numbers such as 3 (셋) it looks like another ‘s’ instead of a ‘t’. I’m new to Korean so I’m sorry if I’ve offended you^-^ Please get back to me about it? 🙂
This is one of the rules in pronunciation ㅅ as final consonant will take t sound. Like 것 or keot means thing but if subject marker is added to it like 이 it becomes 것이 keoshi. Only then that the s sound is produced but if followed by consonant the sound will again be t.
not offended at all… sorry i am not sure if i have answered your question. ㄷ can either be d or t it’s really hard to explain this but in the standard romanization ㄷ when used at the beginning of the sentence would be d. the way ㄷ is pronounced in Korean is like in the middle of the d and t sound. what makes it more difficult is that there are words where its obviously a t or d. ㅅ as final consonant becomes t in pronunciation same goes with ㅆ (tt)– final consonant meaning its the last sound in the word or in case it is sandwiched between character blocks if its the last character and then the next sounded character is consonant as well it also take the t sound rather than s. sample would be 것 (geot) means a thing now typically when used in a sentence this noun can be followed by a marker or post position like a subject marker 이 then geot becomes geoshi (것이).
kyaa~~~ i love this blog~ 🙂
+989395751614
When must I use 하나 and when must I use 일
하나 is the native Korean for 1 while 일 is the sino Korean. Native Korean numbers are used to count things most of the time with exception on some items like minutes of the time, money. But if you have to take a look at it things that may exceed 99, one can no longer use native Korean number.
Hi Janey,
please can u write eleven to twentyn thirthy,fourty to ninety?
Tthanks a lot
Native Korean/ Sino Korean
11 – yeol hana / ship-il
12 – yeol dul/ship-i
13 – yeol set/ ship-sam
14 – yeol net / ship-sa
15 – yeol dasot/ ship-o
16 – yeol yeoseot/ ship-yuk
17 – yeol ilgop / ship-chil
18 – yeol yeodeol / ship-pal
19 – yeol ahop / ship-ku
20 – seumul / i-ship
30 – soreun / sam-ship
maybe you can do the rest =)
how about korean people use?? sino or native??
they use both. but the use depends on what you are counting
what is 100 million ni korean?
sorry this is so late 100 million is 억 (ok)
ブランド アクセサリー プラダ イタリア http://www.gouwu201.com/
When can i use sino korean and native korean?
usually when a number can reach over 100 Sino Korean is used. but definitely for saying the time specifically hours you use the native korean.
my favorite ilgop & yeodeol ❤
Thank you a bunch for sharing this with all folks
you actually recognise what you are speaking approximately!
Bookmarked. Kindly also talk over with my website
=). We may have a link exchange contract between us
Not sure if I missed something important here but im fairly sure 80 is 여든 (yodeun) and not 여들(yodeul)..granted im only a beginner and i might have missed something but that’s what my book and most of the internet says ^^
would love to know if its some slang or just a typo
it was typo 🙂 this what happens when your keyboard is alphabet.
Hi, How do you say ” You are one of a kind” in hangul?
Thanks for your time~
I honestly don’t know how to say this in Korean will ask my friend 🙂
how do you say or write November 5 in korean? 🙂
오일 – oh-il (5th day)
십일월 – ship-il-wol (11th month)
the native korean number 20 the hangul write ‘seumul’ but the romanizations write ‘seumun’. which one is right?
its some pronunciation rule. just like how jongno is jonglo or jongro when spelled in korean
Hi Janey!!! can you write my name… ( kim eun kyo)… please!!! 감사합니다
thank you so much,.. it help me a lot.
Hello,
I was looking for some information on counting in Korean and came across the Korean numbers section on your site.
I’ve been following your site for some time, it’s a fantastic resource for Korean-language students.
Actually, I just put together an infographic on Korean numbers.
Let me know if you want to check it out.
Cheers,
Maile Proctor
mproctor@takelessons.com
Could you recommend any good online Korean teaching websites?
Talktomeinkorean.com is a good site
Im new but i have been learning
Hi, I’ve just started learning korean numbers and am a bit confused. Doesnt ㅅ have a ‘s’ sound. So how is 셋 pronounced as set? Should’nt it be ses?
when ㅅ is used as final character then it takes ‘t’. there are other characters that changes sounds when used as final one you will get to know them more.
Hi! Janey please teach me korean language Please
HI! Can I ask? How will you write number 21 using the native korean? Is it su-mul hana? By the way thanks for this info now I understand the difference between sino and native korean numbers 🙂
hi. i was just wondering which numerical system is used more often, sino or native?
for money its sino but anything that is more that you can count in native korean number is in sino.
You said with just 13 numbers you can go to 1 million but you only went up to 10000 not 1000000. No big deal though. Love this page thank you. It helped so much!
When I translate 영 word on Google Translator. It sshowing meaning as ‘Spirit’ in English.
But its meaning is ‘Zero’ said in one reply above.
What is the word for ‘Zero’ and ‘Zeroes’ in Korean?