When to use native and sino-korean numbers?

Discussion in '한국어 (Korean)' started by neonextract, Jun 22, 2010.

  1. neonextract New Member

    English - United States
    Hi. I just started learning korean, and I'm a bit confused.
    When do I use the native korean numbers (like 하나, 둘, 셋) and the sino-korean ones (일,이,삼)
    I know that you use sino-korean for time and usually with quantifiers, but where else?
    Would it be "한 감자"
    or "일 감자"?

    감사합니다 :)
  2. Kaismum New Member


    First of all, I can't type in Korean, so please bear with me.
    We would use sino Korean ones when you are doing maths.
    for example, 10-5=5
    When you are counting objects and people, you would Native Korean numbers.
    Let's say you are counting how many people are in the room, you will use Native Korean numbers.
    Now, let me look at your example.
    It would be "한 감자" rather than "일 감자".
    However, 한 should come after 감자. Sorry I can't be more elaborate with my Korean examples. I should figure out the Korean keyboards.

  3. neonextract New Member

    English - United States
    Ah thank you so much!
  4. Warp3 Member

    US English
    Some examples:

    Native Korean
    - Counting physical objects (including people) and usually followed by a countword (개, 명, 분, 잔, etc. depending on what is being counted)
    - Years of age
    - Hours
    - Counting (in general)
    - Counting months (but only when used with the native Korean word for month/moon: 달)

    - For any number 100 or higher even if it would normally be expressed in native Korean (since native Korean only goes to 99)
    - Counting any unit of time other than hours (if counting months, you follow it with 개월, which is the generic countword + the Sino-Korean word for month/moon)
    - For creating the names of the months (number of month + 월)
    - Money / currency
    - Math
    - Measurements (kilometers, grams, liters, etc.)
    - Phone numbers

    Those are all the examples, I can think of off hand.

    Notice that hours and minutes do *not* use the same counting system, which means *both* systems are used when telling the time. 1:01 = 한 시 일 분 (literally: 1 hour 1 minute) and would usually be written as 1시 1분.

    To elaborate on this. "1 potato" would be expressed as: 감자 한개
    (개 is the generic countword for any object that doesn't have its own specific countword. However, if you forget a specific countword, 개 is usually considered safe to fall back on for anything *except* counting people.)
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2010

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