For this week, my language partner told me how to count in Korean from one to ten. There are three types of counting in Korean, which are used differently referring different objects and things.
There are two sets of numbers in Korean: the native Korean system and the Sino-Korean system. The native numbers are used for numbers of items (1-99) and age, while the Sino-Korean system is based on Chinese numbers and are used for dates, money, addresses, phone numbers, and numbers above 100. Hindu-Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc) are used for most situations, but the Hanja numerals are sometimes used for prices. The chart below indicates the different ways to count from zero to ten in Korean. However, further learning told me that there is real confusion when dealing with the day, week, and month type dates. Often times people end up with a Korean/Sino-Korean mismatch. "This year" can be said both ways, but only if saying it with the correct match between the "This" and the "Year." My language partner told me that Sino-Korean is more widely used for describing days and dates.
Based on the information mentioned above, we further learned some basic dialogues in Korean. For example, in Korean, the formal way to ask how old are you is "당신은 몇 살입니까 (dangsin-eun myeoch sal-ibnikka)? " The answer could be "저는 19 살입니다 (jeoneun 19 sal-ibnida)." Additionally, we learned how to give my phone number to others in Korean, "내 전화 번호는 (nae jeonhwa beonhoneun)...."
I'm very curious about why there are two different counting systems in Korean with one based on Chinese counting system. In Korean counting grammar, there was an agreement: pure Korean counting nouns require pure Korean numbers, and Sino Korean counting numbers require Sino Korean numbers, which was made from the very old era. Another reason for this is that sometimes the meaning can differ by its numbers. These grammatical matters have different roots just as there are many plural forms in English. However, there are some customary pairs that don't follow the rule. Except for these pairs, any other use that doesn't follow the rules and the agreement will make no sense. Add on to the argument made previously, one has to use pure Korean numbers when it is 1–10, but over 10 and can use both pure and Sino Korean numbers. In other words, it’s not allowed to use Sino-Korean numbers from 1 to 10.
| Numeral | Hanja | Sino-Korean | Native Korean | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 零 | 공 (gong) 영(yeong) 제로 (jero) | ||
| 1 | 一 | 일 (il) | 하나 (hana) | |
| 2 | 二 | 이 (i) | 둘(dul) | |
| 3 | 三 | 삼(sam) | 셋 (set) | |
| 4 | 四 | 사 (sa) | 넷(net) | |
| 5 | 五 | 오 (o) | 다섯 (daseot) | |
| 6 | 六 | 육 (yuk) | 여섯 (yeoseot) | |
| 7 | 七 | 칠 (chil) | 일곱 (ilgop) | |
| 8 | 八 | 팔 (pal) | 여덟 (yeodeol) | |
| 9 | 九 | 구(gu) | 아홉 (ahop) | |
| 10 | 十 | 십 (ship) | 열(yeol) |
Comments