Using your fingers to count in Korea is no longer considered hip and cool. You could get by with number under 10 but what if you have to point out 37 or 183? This is why we all need to learn how to count in Korean. It’s actually pretty easy. In Korean there are two sets of numbers which are used when counting, the first set are known as pure Korean numbers, and the other are Sino-Korean which is based on the Chinese numerals.

0 = gohng
1 = il
2 = yi
3 = sahm
4 = sah
5 = oh
6 = yook
7 = chil
8 = pahl
9 = goo
10 = ship

11 = ship il
12 = ship yi
13 = ship sahm

Get the drift? The last number stays the same so you just have to learn how to say the first digit.

10 = ship
20 = yi ship
30 = sahm ship
40 = sa ship
50 = oh ship
60 = yook ship
70 = chil ship
80 = pahl ship
90 = goo ship

Unlike Spanish, you don’t have to remember different numbers. “ship” meaning 10, stay behind the first number. So saying 47 would be “sah” meaning 4 + “ship” meaning “10″ + “chil” meaning “7″ Pretty easy right?

Now we will learn how to count to 100 so we will cover this part as well.

100 = baek.

So how would you count 158? Baek (100) oh ship (50) pahl (8) would be the correct answer. Counting to 999 isn’t that hard in Korean. Just add the numbers and the ship (10), baek (100)

999 would be……….goo (9) baek (100) goo (9) ship (10) goo (9)

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