Sino-Korean Numbers: 일, 이, 삼 to 만 and Reading Prices
Sino-Korean numbers from 일 to 만: count to 9,999, read phone numbers with 공 for zero, prices like 사천오백 원, floors and minutes — with café dialogue and quiz.
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Written by Alvin Lim Certified Korean Language Teacher (Level 2)
Sino-Korean numbers — 일, 이, 삼, 사 — are the number set Korea uses for money, phone numbers, dates, minutes, and floors. Learn ten digits plus 백, 천, 만 and you can read any price tag in the country. Korean also keeps a second, native number set for counting things and telling ages — that one is the next lesson; this one gets you through every checkout.
The digits: zero to ten
Building big numbers: 백, 천, 만
Multiplier first, then the unit — completely regular: 11 = 십일 (ten-one) · 12 = 십이 · 20 = 이십 (two-ten) · 45 = 사십오 · 99 = 구십구. Then climb: 백 (100), 천 (1,000), 만 (10,000) — 250 = 이백오십, 3,800 = 삼천팔백. Two habits to install: leading 일 is dropped (100 = 백, never 일백), and Korean groups by 10,000, not 1,000 — 50,000 is 오만 (five man), not “fifty thousand”.
That last point deserves a slow read if you think in English. ₩135,000 is not “one hundred thirty-five thousand” in Korean — it is 십삼만 오천, “thirteen man five thousand”. Re-anchoring your brain to the 만 unit is the single hardest part of Korean numbers, and prices will drill it for you daily.
Where Sino-Korean numbers go
Prices → 원: 사천오백 원 = 4,500 won. Floors → 층: 삼 층 = 3rd floor. Minutes → 분: 오 분 = 5 minutes. Months and dates → 월 / 일: 삼월 일 일 = March 1st. Years → 년, and phone numbers digit by digit with 공 for zero. Counting objects, your age, and clock hours use the NATIVE numbers — next lesson.
Reading a phone number
Korean phone numbers are read one digit at a time, and the hyphen is spoken as 에:
010-1234-5678 → 공일공에 일이삼사에 오육칠팔
Practice with your own number until it comes out as one smooth breath — it is the first number anyone in Korea will ask you for, usually at a café counter for the points program.
Reading a price
Break the number at the units you know: ₩4,500 = 4 × 1,000 + 5 × 100 → 사천 + 오백 → 사천오백 원. A ₩12,900 lunch? 만이천구백 원. The won amounts sound long at first, but they are pure Lego — the same fourteen blocks from this lesson, stacked.
At the café
Korea is a points-card civilization: cafés, bakeries, convenience stores, even pharmacies will ask for your number at checkout. 전화번호가 뭐예요? is one of the most common questions a cashier will fire at you, so the ability to rattle off your own digits is real, daily-life Korean — not a textbook exercise.
FAQ
Why does Korean have two number systems? History. Sino-Korean numbers (일, 이, 삼) came from Chinese characters and run the administrative world — money, dates, minutes, floors, phone numbers. Native Korean numbers (하나, 둘, 셋) survive for counting things, ages, and clock hours. Every Korean uses both daily; Lesson 8 covers the native set.
When do I use 영 instead of 공 for zero? 공 for phone numbers and room numbers, read digit by digit. 영 for mathematics, temperatures (영하 = below zero), and scores. If you only memorize one as a beginner, 공 covers the situations you will actually meet.
Are there sound changes I should expect with numbers? A few famous ones. 십육 (16) is pronounced [심뉵] sim-nyuk, and two months change spelling entirely: June is 유월 (not 육월) and October is 시월 (not 십월). Learn these as fixed words — the rest of the system is perfectly regular.
Next: native Korean numbers and counters — 하나, 둘, 셋. Previous: Korean verbs, the 해요 form. Full path: curriculum hub.