In Korean there are 2 number systems. The less commonly used one is called Native Korean, but It also goes by the name Pure Korean Numbers. I will refer to them as the former. Native Numbers are easier to learn in my opinion, because It’s just a matter of learning the first 10 and then remembering 8 other words. Once you have the pattern down It’s super easy.
There is audio as well as 2 quizzes here! Try the quizzes after the lesson and see how well you can do.
LIST Of Numbers (1-20)
1 – 하나
2 – 둘
3 – 셋
4 – 넷
5 – 다섯
6 – 여섯
7 – 일곱
8 – 여덟
9 – 아홉
10 – 열
11 - 열하나
12 - 열둘
13 - 열셋
14 - 열넷
15 - 열다섯
16 - 열여섯
17 - 열일곱
18 - 열여덟
19 - 열아홉
20 - 스물
You may have noticed the pattern already. The numbers 1-10 stack on top of one another to form larger numbers. For example:
열(10) + 하나(1) = 열하나
열(10) + 다섯(5) = 열다섯
열(10) + 아홉(9) = 열아홉
After numbers 11-19 the numbers break off from this pattern and an entirely new numbers/word appears. Remember earlier I said you would just need to know numbers 1-10 and then memorize 8 other numbers, here are those numbers you need to know:
Numbers List (20 - 90)
20 – 스물
30 – 서른
40 – 마흔
50 – 쉰
60 – 예슨
70 – 일흔
80 – 여든
90 – 아흔
You will need to memorize these. Now that we know these and we know numbers 1-10 and we even know how to stack them to create bigger numbers, let's do just that.
> 스물 아홉
20 + 9
> 스물 여덟
20 + 8
> 서른 일곱
30 + 7
> 서른 여섯
30 + 6
> 마흔 여섯
40 + 6
> 쉰 다섯
50 + 5
> 예슨 다섯
60 + 5
> 일흔 넷
70 + 4
> 여든 셋
80 + 3
> 아흔 둘
90 + 2
> 아흔 하나
90 + 1
These numbers may look weird or seem off, but this is how it's done. Now I want you to test yourself and do this on your own using the quizzes I mentioned earlier!
That's the end of this post. I hope you learned more about Native numbers. If you want to know what Native Korean numbers are used for I have another lesson. If you don't see it in the "related posts" then search for it in the blog section of my website. Thanks for reading and studying with me. 화이팅!