Mastering Korean Numbers: Hana, Dul, Set or Il, I, Sam — Which to Use When

After Hangul, the next big mountain for Korean learners is numbers. Most languages have one number system, but Korean has two: native Korean numbers that count hana, dul, set, and Sino-Korean numbers that count il, i, sam. To make things harder, telling the time mixes both systems in one sentence, as in se si isip bun (3:20). No wonder beginners are confused.

Once you know the rules, though, it's more systematic than it looks. Learn which numbers go with which situations, and practice will do the rest. In this guide we explain the difference between the two systems and their uses, then introduce everyday number expressions — times, dates, ages, prices and phone numbers — with examples.

Two number systems

Korea's two number systems have different origins. Native Korean numbers are original Korean words; Sino-Korean numbers come from Chinese characters. Used side by side for centuries, the two naturally divided up the territory between them.

Number	Native Korean	Sino-Korean
1	하나 (hana)	일 (il)
2	둘 (dul)	이 (i)
3	셋 (set)	삼 (sam)
4	넷 (net)	사 (sa)
5	다섯 (daseot)	오 (o)
6	여섯 (yeoseot)	육 (yuk)
7	일곱 (ilgop)	칠 (chil)
8	여덟 (yeodeol)	팔 (pal)
9	아홉 (ahop)	구 (gu)
10	열 (yeol)	십 (sip)
20	스물 (seumul)	이십 (isip)
30	서른 (seoreun)	삼십 (samsip)
40	마흔 (maheun)	사십 (sasip)
50	쉰 (swin)	오십 (osip)
100	(baek is used)	백 (baek)

In everyday use, native Korean numbers mostly go up to 99; for 100 and above, Sino-Korean numbers are used almost exclusively. So for large numbers, Sino-Korean is all you need.

Sino-Korean numbers snap together like Lego

Sino-Korean numbers follow very simple rules. Learn 1 to 10 plus units such as hundred, thousand and ten thousand, and you can build the rest.

• 11 = sip + il = sibil
• 25 = i + sip + o = isibo
• 99 = gu + sip + gu = gusipgu
• 365 = sam + baek + yuk + sip + o = sambaek yuksibo
• 2026 = i + cheon + i + sip + yuk = icheon isimnyuk

One thing to note: for 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000, you don't put il (one) in front. 100 is baek, not "il-baek"; 1,000 is cheon; 10,000 is man.

Native Korean numbers take a little more memorising

Native Korean numbers have separate names for each ten — 10, 20, 30 and so on — so there's a bit more to learn. The building method is the same, though.

• 11 = yeol + hana = yeolhana
• 15 = yeol + daseot = yeoldaseot
• 24 = seumul + net = seumullet
• 37 = seoreun + ilgop = seoreunilgop

Numbers that change shape before counters

Some native Korean numbers shorten when followed by a counter such as gae (items), myeong (people) or si (o'clock). This is an important rule to remember.

Original	Before a counter	Examples
hana	han	han gae, han myeong, han si
dul	du	du gae, du myeong, du si
set	se	se gae, se myeong, se si
net	ne	ne gae, ne myeong, ne si
seumul	seumu	seumu sal (20 years old), seumu gae

So you can say sagwa hana juseyo (one apple, please), but with a counter it becomes sagwa han gae juseyo. Avoid saying "hana gae".

Which numbers to use when

Here's the easiest way to tell the two systems apart. There are exceptions, but this table is plenty to start with.

Native Korean numbers	Sino-Korean numbers
Counting items or people (han gae, du myeong)	Prices and money (cheon won, man won)
Age (seumul-daseot sal)	Phone numbers, addresses, numbered things
Hours of the clock (se si)	Minutes and seconds (samsip bun)
Number of times (han beon, du beon)	Dates, months and years (icheon isimnyuk nyeon owol o il)
Counters such as cups, bottles and bowls	Floors, room numbers, class periods (sam cheung)
Months as a duration with dal (du dal)	Months as a duration with gaewol (sam gaewol); measurements of height, weight and distance

In short: counting uses native Korean, reading uses Sino-Korean. The number of apples is counted, so native; the number on a price tag is read, so Sino-Korean.

Telling the time: where the two systems meet

Time is the classic example of both systems in one sentence: hours are native Korean, minutes are Sino-Korean.

• 1:00 → han si
• 3:20 → se si isip bun
• 7:45 → ilgop si sasibo bun
• 10:30 → yeol si samsip bun, or yeol si ban
• 12:05 → yeoldu si o bun

Ban means half (30 minutes) and is used constantly. Morning and afternoon go before the time — ojeon ahop si (9 a.m.), ohu se si (3 p.m.) — and the day can be divided more finely: achim ilgop si (7 in the morning), jeonyeok yeoseot si (6 in the evening), bam yeolhan si (11 at night), saebyeok du si (2 in the early morning).

Asking and answering

• Jigeum myeot siyeyo? (What time is it?) — Du si sibo bunieyo. (It's 2:15.)
• Myeot sie mannayo? (What time shall we meet?) — Ilgop si bane mannayo. (Let's meet at 7:30.)
• Eolmana geollyeoyo? (How long does it take?) — Samsip bun jjeum geollyeoyo. (About 30 minutes.) / Han sigan geollyeoyo. (An hour.)

Durations in hours with the word sigan also use native numbers — han sigan, du sigan ban — while minutes stay Sino-Korean: isip bun geollyeoyo (it takes 20 minutes).

Dates and days of the week

Dates are read entirely with Sino-Korean numbers. Korean goes from the largest unit to the smallest, so the order is year, month, day.

• 2 May 2026 → icheon isimnyuk nyeon owol i il
• 9 October (Hangul Day) → siwol gu il

Month names to watch

Months are simply the number plus wol, but June and October change shape for smoother pronunciation: June is yuwol, not "yukwol", and October is siwol, not "sipwol".

Month	Reading	Month	Reading
January	irwol	July	chirwol
February	iwol	August	parwol
March	samwol	September	guwol
April	sawol	October	siwol
May	owol	November	sibirwol
June	yuwol	December	sibiwol

Days of the week

Days are named after natural elements rather than numbers: woryoil (moon), hwayoil (fire), suyoil (water), mogyoil (wood), geumyoil (metal), toyoil (earth) and iryoil (sun). Ask "oneul museun yoirieyo?" (what day is it today?) and you'll hear answers like "geumyoirieyo" (it's Friday).

Saying your age

Age uses native numbers plus sal: seumul-daseot sal (25), seoreun sal (30), yeol-yeodeol sal (18). In formal contexts and documents, Sino-Korean numbers plus se are also used: isibo se.

• Myeot sarieyo? (How old are you?) — Seumul-du sarieyo. (I'm 22.)
• (To an elder) Yeonsega eotteoke doeseyo? (May I ask your age?) — Ilheuniseyo. (He/She is 70.)

For reference, since 2023 Korea has standardised on international age for legal and administrative purposes. "Korean age", where you're one at birth, used to be common in daily life, but international age is now the official standard. Even so, in conversation people often establish relationships by asking birth years: "Jeoneun icheon nyeonsaengieyo" (I was born in 2000).

Prices and large numbers: getting past man

The most confusing part of large Korean numbers is the man (10,000) unit. English groups digits in threes — thousand, million — but Korean groups them in fours: man, eok, jo.

Number	Korean
1,000	cheon
10,000	man
100,000	simman
1,000,000	baengman
10,000,000	cheonman
100,000,000	eok

When reading prices, it helps to split the number into groups of four from the right.

• ₩3,500 → samcheon obaek won
• ₩12,000 → man icheon won
• ₩45,000 → saman ocheon won
• ₩250,000 → isibo man won
• ₩1,500,000 → baegosim man won

Korean banknotes come in 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 and 50,000 won, and the main coins are 10, 50, 100 and 500 won. Ask "eolmayeyo?" at a market and you'll hear answers like "man ocheon wonieyo" (₩15,000) — once you're comfortable with man, shopping gets much easier.

Reading phone numbers and other numbers

Phone numbers are read digit by digit with Sino-Korean numbers. Zero is gong or yeong; in phone numbers it's usually gong. Hyphens are read as e or simply as a pause.

• 010-1234-5678 → gong-il-gong, il-i-sam-sa, o-yuk-chil-pal

Bus numbers, room numbers and floors are also read in Sino-Korean: sambaegil beon beoseu (bus 301), obaegi ho (room 502), chil cheung (7th floor). Bus numbers are often read digit by digit, too: chil-chil-gong beon beoseu (bus 770).

Essential counters

When counting things in Korean, you add a counter after the number, similar to English "a cup of" or "a bottle of". Most counters take native numbers.

Counter	Used for	Example
gae	General items	sagwa se gae (three apples)
myeong / bun	People (bun is honorific)	haksaeng daseot myeong (five students), sonnim du bun (two guests)
jan	Cups or glasses of drink	keopi han jan (a cup of coffee)
byeong	Bottles	mul du byeong (two bottles of water), soju han byeong
geureut	Bowls of food	bibimbap han geureut (a bowl of bibimbap)
mari	Animals	goyangi du mari (two cats), chikin han mari (one whole chicken)
gwon	Books	chaek se gwon (three books)
jang	Thin flat things like paper or tickets	pyo du jang (two tickets)
dae	Machines and vehicles	cha han dae (one car)
inbun	Portions of food (Sino-Korean)	samgyeopsal i inbun (two portions of pork belly)

Unusually, inbun, which you'll use constantly in restaurants, takes Sino-Korean numbers: samgyeopsal i inbun juseyo, galbi sam inbun juseyo. Counting fried chicken by the "animal" — han mari, du mari — is another fun quirk of Korean.

Ordinal numbers: first, second, third

Ordinals add jjae to native numbers, except that "first" is cheotjjae, not "hanajjae".

• cheotjjae, duljjae, setjjae, netjjae, daseotjjae…
• cheot beonjjae, du beonjjae, se beonjjae (with beonjjae, a more general way to say first, second, third)

Sino-Korean numbers with je — jeil, jei — also express order, and jeil is often used to mean "the most", as in jeil joayo (I like it most).

Practice tips to learn numbers fast

• Say the time: every time you check a clock, say the time in Korean.
• Read price tags: when shopping or browsing online stores, read prices in Korean. You'll get used to man quickly.
• Count stairs: count in native Korean going up and Sino-Korean coming down — a fun way to practise.
• Memorise phone numbers: read your friends' numbers in Korean.
• Learn with songs: look for numbers in Korean children's songs or K-pop lyrics. Learning them with rhythm makes them stick far longer.

Common mistakes

• "hana gae" ✗ → "han gae" ✓: use the short form before counters.
• "sam si" ✗ → "se si" ✓: hours use native numbers.
• "se bun" (minutes) ✗ → "sam bun" ✓: minutes use Sino-Korean numbers. (Incidentally, se bun means "three people", honorifically.)
• "yukwol" ✗ → "yuwol" ✓; "sipwol" ✗ → "siwol" ✓
• "ilman won" → "man won": it's natural not to put il before man.

Reading Korean money: notes and coins

The moment you'll use numbers most is when paying. Knowing Korean notes and coins lets you hear a price and pull out the right money straight away.

Denomination	How to say it	Notes
1,000-won note	천 원 (cheon won)	Features the Joseon scholar Toegye Yi Hwang.
5,000-won note	오천 원 (ocheon won)	Features the Joseon scholar Yulgok Yi I.
10,000-won note	만 원 (man won)	Features King Sejong, who created Hangul.
50,000-won note	오만 원 (oman won)	Features Shin Saimdang, Yulgok Yi I's mother.
Coins	십 원, 오십 원, 백 원, 오백 원 (10, 50, 100, 500 won)	As cash payments decline, coins are used less and less.

Fun fact: Yulgok Yi I on the 5,000-won note and Shin Saimdang on the 50,000-won note were really mother and son. Knowing the faces on the notes gives you a conversation starter about Korean history too.

Speaking in numbers: Korean number puns

Korean has playful expressions based on how numbers sound. Many come from the days before mobile texting, when people sent numeric messages on pagers (ppippi).

• 1004 (cheonsa): sounds exactly like 천사, "angel", so it's used to mean angel — sometimes as a pet name for a kind person or a child.
• 8282 (pal-i-pal-i): sounds like 빨리빨리 (ppalli-ppalli), "hurry, hurry", so it was used to mean "be quick".
• 486: used in the pager era as a numeric code for 사랑해, "I love you".

You'll still spot these in song lyrics, adverts and shop names. That even a single number carries a slice of culture is part of Korean's charm.

Everyday number expressions

Expression	Meaning	Example
반 (ban)	Half	세 시 반에 만나요. — Let's meet at half past three. / 반만 주세요. — Just half, please.
배 (bae)	Times (multiplication)	가격이 두 배로 올랐어요. — The price doubled.
퍼센트 / 프로 (peosenteu / peuro)	Per cent; in everyday speech, often 프로	삼십 프로 할인해요. — It's 30% off.
층 (cheung)	Floor of a building (with Sino-Korean numbers)	화장실은 삼 층에 있어요. — The toilets are on the third floor.
등 (deung)	Rank, place	달리기에서 일 등을 했어요. — I came first in the race.
번째 (beonjjae)	Ordinal "-th" (with native Korean numbers)	두 번째 골목에서 오른쪽으로 가세요. — Turn right at the second alley.

Practise with a receipt

Below is an imaginary convenience-store receipt. Read each price aloud in Korean.

Triangle gimbap 1,500 won / Banana milk 1,700 won / Cup ramyeon 1,350 won / Total 4,550 won

Answers: 천오백 원, 천칠백 원, 천삼백오십 원, total 사천오백오십 원

Note that prices start with plain 천, not 일천 ("one thousand"). The same goes for 만: you say 만 원, not 일만 원. Make a habit of silently reading price tags whenever you shop or order at a café, and hearing and saying numbers will soon feel natural.

Why are there two number systems?

The reason Korean has two number systems lies in history. Native Korean numbers, starting 하나, 둘, 셋, are words Koreans have used since ancient times. Sino-Korean numbers, starting 일, 이, 삼, took root over centuries as Chinese character culture spread into Korea. Fields that required precise calculation and records — scholarship, administration and commerce — mainly used Sino-Korean numbers, while everyday expressions for counting people and things kept native numbers. Because of this history, the split continues today: Sino-Korean for dates, money and phone numbers; native Korean for age, quantities and the hour when telling time. If you know that Japanese also has two number systems, it may be easier to understand.

"하나, 둘, 셋!" for photos

When taking group photos in Korea, people usually give the cue with native numbers: "하나, 둘, 셋!" For a long time, it was customary to shout "김치!" and smile, because making the "ch" sound naturally lifts the corners of your mouth into a smile. These days people also shout "V!" or other fun words. Native numbers are also often used to count at the start of races or games, such as "준비, 시작!" (Ready, go!), or "열까지 센다!" (I'll count to ten!) in hide-and-seek. Imitating everyday expressions like these will make native numbers feel much more familiar.

Lucky and unlucky numbers

In Korea, the number 4 is considered unlucky because it sounds the same as the Chinese character for death (死, sa). In older buildings and hospitals, you'll sometimes see the fourth floor marked "F" in lifts or skipped altogether. Conversely, 7 is considered lucky under Western influence, and 3 is traditionally loved as a good number signifying completeness. The phrase 삼세판 ("best of three") — the idea that you should try anything three times — comes from this. The custom of preferring odd amounts when giving wedding money or New Year's money also lingers. Knowing this number culture helps you understand why certain small habits exist in Korean life.

Counting on your fingers

When Koreans count on their fingers, they usually start with an open hand and fold down one finger at a time, beginning with the thumb. By five you have a fist, and from six you open fingers again, starting with the little finger. It's the opposite of methods that start from a closed fist, so it may look fun the first time you see it. Using your fingers when bargaining at a market or telling a restaurant how many are in your party gets the message across even if your Korean is shaky.

Reading addresses and apartment numbers

Korean apartment addresses are full of numbers. For example, "101동 1203호" is read 백일 동 천이백삼 호 and means flat 3 on the 12th floor of building 101. Remember that both the building (동) and flat (호) numbers are read with Sino-Korean numbers. These expressions are essential when receiving deliveries or visiting a friend's home, so practising reading your accommodation's address aloud will keep you from panicking in real situations.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to learn both systems?

Yes. But native numbers are mostly used from 1 to 99 in daily life — and 1 to 20 most of all. Sino-Korean numbers follow simple rules and are quick to learn.

What if I'm not sure which one to use?

Remember: counting is native, reading is Sino-Korean. Even if you get it wrong, Koreans will almost always understand, so don't worry too much.

Is there a trick for reading big numbers quickly?

Split the number into groups of four from the right. Put man before the last four digits and eok before the four before that.

Final thought: numbers are everyday language

Numbers are among the most frequently used words in Korean. You use them ordering a coffee, setting a time to meet and asking prices at the market. That's why learning numbers is often the moment Korean suddenly starts to feel like a living, everyday language.

From today, every time you look at a clock, say the time in Korean: "Jigeumeun ohu se si isip bun" — it's 3:20 p.m. That small habit will make your Korean far more natural a month from now.