Counting in Korean: Beyond the basics. Part 1

This lesson assumes you can count in both pure Korean and in Sino Korean numbers. Pure Korean being 하나 둘 셋 and Sino Korean being 일 이 삼.

This first part of the lesson will introduce when to use each system and then an overview of counting duration. The second part of this lesson will teach how to count the “nth” instance, or the “nth” thing and other important counting concepts.

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When to use each system

1) When to use pure Korean numbers (하나, 둘, 셋 etc)

• Counting the number of things
• Age
• Telling the hour part of the time
• Counting the duration of days or months, or the nth day/month

2) When to use Sino Korean numbers (일, 이, 삼 etc)

• Counting the number of things when they get to a large number. There isn’t a hard and fast rule but anything beyond 40 starts transitioning into Sino Korean
• Same with age. But if you use the Sino Korean number you say 세 instead of 살. (e.g. 구십구 세 to say 92 years old)
• Telling the minute and second part of the time
• Counting the duration in weeks or years, or the nth week/year
• Telephone numbers, with the exception of 0, which is 공
• Street numbers
• Scores in sports
• Maths

3) When to mix the two

• Telling the time. The hour is Pure Korean and the minute is Sino Korean. For example 2:30 would be 두시 삼십분 (아침/오후)
• When counting anything in large number. Generally speaking from 40 onwards, you can mix the two together. For example 오십다섯 개, 오십다섯 살, 오십다설 달.

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Counting duration

	1	2	3	55
Second	일초	이초	삼초	오십오초
Minute	일분	이분	삼분	오십오분
Hour	한시간	두시간	세시간	오십다섯시간
Day	하루	이틀	사흘	오심오일
Week	일주일	이주	삼주	오십오주
Month	한달	두달	세달	쉰다섯달
Year	일년	이년	삼년	오십오년
Person	한명	두명	세명	오십다섯명
Item	하나	두개	세개	오십다섯개

Some phrases that involve counting duration

• 한시간 기다리세요. Wait one hour.
• 미국에 간지 한달 됐어요. It’s been a month since I went to America.
• 일년 돼서 다시 갈거예요. I’ll go again in a year.
• 이분도 안 될거예요. 좀 더 기다리세요. It’ll take less than 2 minutes. Please wait a bit.

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