Korean Numbers: Two Counting Systems and a 1–10 Table with Transcription

6 November 2026 · KoryoTalk · 5 min read

Short answer: Korean numbers exist in two counting systems at once. The native system — 하나, 둘, 셋 («hana, dul, set»); the Sino-Korean system — 일, 이, 삼 («il, i, sam»). The same number carries two names: 2 is both 둘 and 이. Which system switches on depends on what is being counted: hours, commands and one-by-one counting go native, while numbers, prices and large figures go Sino-Korean. Below — a 1–10 table in both systems, the tens, hundreds and thousands, and the northern spellings by which Korean numbers are recognized in northern texts.

One meaning, two words

The Sino-Korean system consists of numerals of Chinese origin as they are read in Korean: they entered the language along with the character-based book culture, and they name the number itself, dates, numbers, money. The native system is properly Korean words: they count objects one by one, hours, movements, repetitions. The systems do not replace but complement each other, which is why Korean numerals are learned in pairs, not as a single one-to-ten list.

Both systems are written in the same script — hangul. Whether it holds 40 or 24 letters depends on the counting standard: why the letter counts differ and why the alphabet has two names are covered in neighboring articles.

Table: Korean numbers from 1 to 10

Asterisked (*) items are words without a separate dictionary entry — they are given by their generally known meaning; the list stands at the end of the page. From the table the main principle is visible: 하나 and 일 are two names of one number, and the choice depends on the system, not on magnitude: a three counted one-by-one and a three inside a phone number are different words (셋 and 삼).

The tens: 스물, 서른, 마흔…

Counting in Korean from 1 to 10 is the foundation, but already at twenty the systems diverge in structure. The native system names each ten with a separate word — they are memorized as a list and cannot be derived. The Sino-Korean system assembles tens from the table above as «digit + 십»: 20 — 이십, 90 — 구십.

Compound numbers are assembled from these parts: 21 — 스물하나* in the native system; 35 — 서른다섯 or, in the Sino-Korean system, 삼십오. Practical conclusion: learn the tens together with the units — otherwise compound numbers cannot be read.

Hundreds, thousands and beyond — Sino-Korean only

Hundreds and thousands have no native names: 백* (100), 천* (1,000) and 만* (10,000) belong to the Sino-Korean system. They combine freely: 300 — 삼백, 5,000 — 오천, 50,000 — 오만. The number 357 is read entirely in the Sino-Korean system: 삼백오십칠. The rule is simple: the larger the number, the more reliably the Sino-Korean system works — which is why prices and large quantities are counted with it.

Northern spellings: 륙십, 래일, 래년

For a number of words the beginning differs between the North and the South: where the southern norm changes initial ㄹ/ㄴ, the northern one keeps them as they are. On numerals this touches exactly one spot: 60 in the North is 륙십, the southern spelling is 육십. Beyond counting, the same pattern holds in time words: «tomorrow» — 래일 and southern 내일; «the following year» — 래년 and southern 내년. Numbers and dates in northern texts are therefore read by the northern spellings — how the northern norm differs overall is covered in a separate article.

Counting in Korean in taekwondo

Training counts in taekwondo go in the native system: 하나*, 둘, 셋, 넷 — «hana, dul, set, net». Counting movements one by one is precisely the case the native system exists for. In international gyms the same count is sometimes doubled in the Sino-Korean system — 일, 이, 삼, 사 — but the basic taekwondo count is native.

Where numbers meet you every day

Time. «What time is it?» — 몇 시. The hour is named in the native system, minutes in the Sino-Korean: 삼십 분 — 30 minutes.

Phone. A phone number — 전화번호 — is read digit by digit in the Sino-Korean system: 1-2-3-4 — 일-이-삼-사.

Prices. 가격 — «price». Price tags live in the Sino-Korean system: they feature 만* (10,000) and combinations like 오만 (50,000).

How to learn

The order is simple: the 1–10 table in both systems, then the tens, then counting in real situations — time, taekwondo, prices. The step-by-step start from zero shows where numbers sit in the overall sequence, and Korean words with translation supply neighboring vocabulary for opening phrases.

The pronunciation and translation of any number can be checked with KoryoTalk, a translator bot for the North Korean language: a 2.2-million-entry Korean–Russian dictionary base plus a separately built layer of northern equivalents.

* — these words have no separate dictionary entry and are given by their generally known meaning: 하나, 열, 삼, 사, 오, 칠, 백, 천, 만, 숫자.