Level 1 · Unit 2 · Numbers & Time · 7 min

Sino-Korean Numbers

Count from 1 to 10 in sino-Korean, read hundred/thousand/ten-thousand, and read a phone number out loud.

Two number systems — this one is for phones, money, and math

Korean has two complete sets of numbers, and which one you use depends on what you're counting. This lesson teaches the 한자어 숫자 (sino-Korean numbers, borrowed from Chinese) — 일, 이, 삼... — used for phone numbers, prices, dates, and math. A second set, native Korean numbers, is used for counting objects, people, and age — that's next lesson. Mixing the two up is the most common beginner mistake with Korean numbers, so keep this lesson's set mentally labeled 'phone and money.'

일 이 삼 사 오 육 칠 팔 구 십 il i sam sa o yuk chil pal gu sip one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten

The full sino-Korean count from 1 to 10: 일(1) 이(2) 삼(3) 사(4) 오(5) 육(6) 칠(7) 팔(8) 구(9) 십(10). Beyond 10, Korean just combines these — 십일 is 11 (10+1), 이십 is 20 (2×10) — so once you know 1-10 you can build almost any number.

백/천/만: Korean groups numbers by 10,000, not 1,000

Three more building-block words: 백 (hundred), 천 (thousand), and 만 (ten thousand). The tricky part isn't the words themselves — it's that Korean groups big numbers in chunks of four digits (만 units), while English groups by three (thousand units). So English '150,000' isn't '15 만' the way you might expect a direct translation — it's 십오만, 'fifteen ten-thousands.' You'll get comfortable with this the more you read prices and numbers in Unit 2.

백 baek hundred (100)

백 alone already means 100 — Korean doesn't say '일백' (one-hundred) the way you might expect. But 이백 (200), 삼백 (300), and so on do need the number in front.

천 cheon thousand (1,000)

Same rule as 백 — 천 alone is 1,000, no 일 needed. You'll see this constantly once you start reading prices in won.

만 man ten thousand (10,000)

만 is the unit Korean actually counts big numbers in — this is the word behind that 10,000/1,000 grouping difference from English. It shows up everywhere once prices get bigger than a few thousand won.

공 gong zero

공 is how Koreans say '0' in phone numbers and addresses — you'll hear it constantly. A more formal word for zero, 영, exists for math contexts, but 공 is what you need for everyday speech.

Reading a phone number

Korean phone numbers are read one digit at a time, with a short pause where the hyphens are — never as one big combined number. 0 becomes 공, and everything else is the sino-Korean digit you just learned. So 010-2345-6789 becomes: 공일공 (pause) 이삼사오 (pause) 육칠팔구.

제 전화번호는 공일공 이삼사오 육칠팔구예요 je jeonhwabeonhoneun gongilgong isamsao yukchilpalguyeyo My phone number is 010-2345-6789.

전화번호 means 'phone number.' Notice the digits are grouped exactly like the hyphens in the written number — that grouping is what makes a long string of digits understandable when spoken aloud.

Exchanging phone numbers with someone new

전화번호가 뭐예요?

jeonhwabeonhoga mwoyeyo? — What's your phone number?

공일공 이삼사오 육칠팔구예요.

gongilgong isamsao yukchilpalguyeyo. — It's 010-2345-6789.

다시 한번 말해 주세요

dasi hanbeon malhae juseyo — Please say that again.