An aspect that is distinct about Korean, compared to English, is the existence of counting nouns, or unit nouns. These words are unique depending upon the thing that you are counting.
There are, to be exact, a TON of counting words, far more than we can cover in this email. But we are going to get through the ones that come up in everyday life and should get you through 99% of conversations. Let's dive in!
First off, we should chat about the structure of how to use the counting nouns. There are counting nouns for both Natural Korean numbers as well as Sino-Korean numbers. Let's start with the Natural Korean numbers, like
하나, 둘, 셋, 넷,...
But then when you use the counting nouns, a few of the numbers change a bit:
하나 (1) → 한
둘 (2) → 두
셋 (3) → 세
넷 (4) → 네
스물 (20) → 스무
Finally you place the counting noun (let's use 개, for example) after the numbers to count the number of that thing:
한 개, 두 개, 세 개, 네 개,...
So, now that we have a good idea about the structure, I'm going to list the noun, which system it belongs to (Natural Korean or Sino-Korean), the thing that it counts, and an example. It might look like a lot, but it covers pretty much what you use most days. We can chat about some of the more rare counting nouns another day!
Counting Noun (Korean) Typical Number System What it Counts Example (Korean & English) 개 Natural Korean General inanimate objects 사과 한 개 - one apple 명 Natural Korean People (informal) 학생 두 명 - two students 분 Natural Korean People (honorific) 선생님 세 분 - three teachers 마리 Natural Korean Animals (including birds, fish) 고양이 네 마리 - four cats 살 Natural Korean Age 다섯 살 - five years old 권 Natural Korean Books, magazines, notebooks 책 한 권 - one book 장 Natural Korean Thin, flat objects (paper, tickets) 종이 두 장 - two sheets of paper 벌 Natural Korean Clothing items (suits, dresses) 옷 세 벌 - three sets of clothes 병 Natural Korean Bottles 물 네 병 - four bottles of water 잔 Natural Korean Cups or glasses of drinks 커피 한 잔 - one cup of coffee 대 Natural Korean Vehicles, machines 차 두 대 - two cars 채 Natural Korean Houses, buildings 집 세 채 - three houses 그루 Natural Korean Trees 나무 한 그루 - one tree 조각 Natural Korean Slices or pieces 피자 두 조각 - two slices of pizza 자루 Natural Korean Long, slender objects (pencils) 연필 세 자루 - three pencils 켤레 Natural Korean Pairs of shoes or socks 신발 한 켤레 - one pair of shoes 송이 Natural Korean Picked flowers, bunches of fruit 꽃 한 송이 - one flower 줄 Natural Korean Items in a line 김밥 두 줄 - two rolls of 김밥 년 Sino-Korean Years 이천이십오 년 - 2025 월 Sino-Korean Months (of the year) 칠 월 - July 일 Sino-Korean Days (of the month) 이십육 일 - the 26th 개월 Sino-Korean Duration of months 삼 개월 - three months (duration) 시 Natural Korean Hours (of the clock) 네 시 - four o'clock 분 Sino-Korean Minutes 삼십 분 - thirty minutes 초 Sino-Korean Seconds 십 초 - ten seconds 원 Sino-Korean Korean currency 천 원 - one thousand won 층 Sino-Korean Floors of a building 오 층 - fifth floor 인분 Sino-Korean Servings of food 삼 인분 - three servings
So, let's practice a few examples:
Say, that you're at a 떡볶이 집 with your friends and you want to order 3 servings of 떡볶이. How would you say that?
"안녕하세요! 떡볶이 삼 인분 주세요!" = Hello! Three servings of tteokbokki please!
Here's another one!
Suppose you pulled an all-nighter studying for an exam, then in the morning before the test your friend sees you and asks: "How many coffees did you have this morning?"
You could say something like: "나는 커피 다섯 잔이나 마셨어. 아이고..." = I drank, like, 5 coffees...Oh no...
For a last example, let's suppose that you live in Seoul and have a tremendous amount of pets. Definitely way more than you should, but you don't care. You own 13 fish 🐟, 3 dogs 🐶, 4 cats 🐈, and a rabbit 🐇. Someone asks you which of your pets is your favorite and you respond with:
"무슨 말이에요...저는 21마리 동물들을 모두 똑같이 사랑해요. 그리고 저는 외롭지 않아요." = What are you talking about...I love all 21 animals equally. And no, I'm not lonely.
If you made it this far, thanks!
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지혜 & Ian