~ We will tackle now the: "Counters"
Counter is a noun that are associated with a number. An equivalent English example is “piece”, as in “a piece of paper”. But while English only uses counters for things that can only counted in a bound form (e.g. piece, cup, slice, etc.,) Korean uses counters to count pretty much all nouns. Some counters must be associated with a number, while other counters may stand alone. For example, the counter 그루 (counter for trees) must be associated with a number, since it has no meaning on its own. But the counter 잔 ("cup") can stand alone as a noun meaning "cup", as well as serve as a counter for something that goes into the cup. (For example, 소주 한 잔, i.e. "a glass of soju".)
• 마리 (mari) – is a counter used of animals. We use Native/Pure Korean. i.e. 강아지 네 마리 – gong-a-ji ne ma-ri. (“four puppies”).
하나 - 한 = 한 마리 둘 - 두 = 두 마리 셋 - 세 = 세 마리 넷 - 네 = 네 마리 다섯 = 다섯 마리 여섯 = 여섯 마리 일곱 = 일곱 마리 여덟 = 여덟 마리 아홉 = 아홉 마리 열 = 열 마리
• 개 (gae) – is a counter used for things. Native/Pure Korean is also used. 개 – piece/unit i.e. 사과 한 개 – sa-gwa han gae. (“one apple”).
하나 - 한 = 한 개 둘 - 두 = 두 개 셋 - 세 = 세 개 넷 - 네 = 네 개 다섯 = 다섯 개 여섯 = 여섯 개 일곱 = 일곱 개 여덟 = 여덟 개 아홉 = 아홉 개 열 = 열 개
• 명 (myeong) – is a counter used with people. i.e. 의사 두 명 – ui-sa du myeong. (“two doctors”).
하나 - 한 = 한 명 둘 - 두 = 두 명 셋 - 세 = 세 명 넷 - 네 = 네 명 다섯 = 다섯 명 여섯 = 여섯 명 일곱 = 일곱 명 여덟 = 여덟 명 아홉 = 아홉 명 열 = 열 명
• 번 (beon) – is a Time counter. i.e. 한 번 – han beon (one time)
두 번 – du beon (twice) 열 번 – yeol beon (10 times) 수십 번 – su-sip beon (several ten times)
딱 한 번만 했어. Ddak han beon-man haess-eo (I only did it one time)
저는 중국에 두 번 가봤어요. Jeo-neun jung-guk-e du beon ga-bwass-eo-yo. (I've been to China twice)
(Also, notice in the examples above that “한, 두, 세, 네” are used as opposed to “하나, 둘, 셋, 넷” because the numbers, as adjectives, modify the counters.)
UNIT COUNTERS
Numbers 번 for – Bus numbers 년 – year
- Phone numbers
호 for - Address 월 – month
- Train lines
층 for - Floor numbers 일 – day
- Level numbers
- Story numbers
There are many list of “Counters” and these are just few of those list that are being used daily.
Post source courtesy of: 코리안남매 Korean Nammae Koreanwikiproject Ask a Korean
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Learn Korean , Learn 한굴 by Hwal-wal
Non-FictionThis book is all about learning korean personally and some of the lessons are made by me base on my studies and other is by the help of some korean links or korean vlog.
