Sino-Korean numbers

Borrowed from Chinese long ago, these numbers are regular and go on forever: once you know 1–10 and the words for 100, 1,000 and 10,000, you can say any number.

1 to 10

• 1일il
• 2이i
• 3삼sam
• 4사sa
• 5오o
• 6육yuk
• 7칠chil
• 8팔pal
• 9구gu
• 10십sip

Tens

• 20이십isip
• 30삼십samsip
• 40사십sasip
• 50오십osip
• 60육십yuksip
• 70칠십chilsip
• 80팔십palsip
• 90구십gusip

Big numbers

• 100백baek
• 1,000천cheon
• 10,000만man
• 100,000,000억eok

Use it for

• • Money: 오천 원 (5,000 won)
• • Dates and months: 시월 구 일 (October 9)
• • Minutes and seconds: 삼십 분 (30 minutes)
• • Phone numbers, floors, room and bus numbers: 삼 층, 칠 번 버스
• • Formal ages and years: 이십 세, 이천이십육 년

Common mistakes

• Months 6 and 10 drop a sound: June is 유월 (not 육월) and October is 시월 (not 십월).
• Don't say 일 before 백, 천 or 만 at the start: 10,000 is 만, not 일만.
• Big numbers group by 10,000 (만), not by 1,000: 100,000 is 십만 (ten 만).
• 16 is written 십육 but pronounced [심뉵] — sound changes are normal in fast speech.