Koreans use 2 different sets of cardinal numbers, depending on the situation- Korean numbers and Chinese numbers. Although they usually use Arabic numerals, sometimes Chinese characters are used for prices.
Use the Korean forms for the number of items (1-99) and age: 2 children 5 bottle of beer, 27 years old.
Use the Chinese forms for dates (but see below), money, addresses, phone numbers, and numbers above 100.
Most Asian counting systems are based on increments of 10,000 rather than 1,000. For example, the number 100,000 is represented by "10 ten-thousands" rather than "100 thousands." As can be imagined, this causes much confusion for everyone when converting numbers between Korean and other languages. If you have any doubt, verify large numbers in writing (or on a calculator) and check the number of digits. That W500,000 antique chest may actually be W5,000,000!
NOTES:
If you see a lot of garbage on your screen, you need to set your Web browser to read Korean characters.
Numbers (Korean forms are in parentheses)
English
Hangul
Pronunciation
1
일 (하나)
il (hana)
2
이 (둘)
ee (tul)
3
삼 (셋)
sam (set)
4
사 (넷)
sa (net)
5
오 (다섯)
oh (tasot)
6
육 (여섯)
yuk (yosot)
7
칠 (일곱)
ch'il (ilgop)
8
팔 (여덟)
p'al (yodolp)
9
구 (아홉)
gu (ahop)
10
십 (열)
ship (yol)
11
십일 (열하나)
ship-il (yol-hana)
12
십이 (열둘)
ship-ee (yol-tul)
13
십삼 (열셋)
ship-sam (yol-set)
14
십사 (열넷)
ship-sa (yol-net)
15
십오 (열다섯)
ship-oh (yol-tasot)
