Learn How To Speak In Korean

Korean Number

Korean numbers are actually very easy once you get the hang of them. But, because they are so different from English numbers, it is often hard for English speakers to fully understand them at first.
First thing you need to know, there are two sets of numbers in Korean: The pure Korean numbers and the numbers derived from Chinese (called Sino-Korean numbers).
The words 1, 2, 3, 4 and 20 change when adding a counter:
1 = 하나 (Hana) -> 한(Han)
2 = 둘 Dul-> 두 du
3 = 셋 set-> 세 se
4 = 넷 net-> 네 ne
20 = 스물 seumul -> 스무 seumu
Place a number, followed by a counter, after a noun to indicate how many of that thing there are. For example:
사람 두 명 (saram du myeong)= 2 people
사람 한 명 (Saram han myeong)= 1 person
펜 다섯 개 (pen daseot kae) = 5 pens
When the Korean numbers are used (i.e. when counting things or actions), the numeral is more typically used than the word.
In other situations where Sino-Korean numbers are used, there is no difference if you use the Sino-Korean numeral or the word. I will come back to this in the next lesson when you learn applications for Sino-Korean numbers.
These nouns that we have counted can now become the object of a sentence:
나는 펜 네 개를 샀어
Naneun pen ne kaereul sasseo
= I bought four pens
나는 햄버거 두 개를 먹었어
naneun haembeogeo du kaereul meogeosseo
= I ate two hamburgers
나는 어제 친구 다섯 명을 만났어
naneun eoje chingu daseot myeongeul mannasseo
= I met five friends yesterday
I'll discuss this further soon.