Korean is easy?”
Talkin’ the Talk
Chris and Jung are waiting for food at a restaurant.
Jung:
chrisssineun eoneu nara saram eeaeyo?
chris-sshi-neun uh-neu-na-ra sa-ram-ee-ae-yo?
Where are you from, Chris?
Chris:
ah, jeoneun meeguk saramieaeyo. jangnyeonae vir-
giniaeseo waseoyo.
oh, juh-neun mee-gook sa-ram-ee-ae-yo. jak-nyun-ae
virginia-ae-suh wa-ssuh-yo.
Oh, I’m an American person. I came from Virginia last
year.
Jung:
hangukeumsigi anmaewoyo?
han-goog-eum-shi-gee an-mae-wo-yo?
Isn’t Korean food too spicy?
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Chris:
jogeum maewoyo. hajiman jeoneun hanguk eum-
sigeul jungmal joahhaeyo.
jo-geum mae-wo-yo. ha-jee-man juh-neun han-goog
eum-shi-geul jungmal jo-a-hae-yo.
It is a little spicy. But I really like Korean food.
Jung:
murihaji maseyo. pirohamyeon mul jom asyeoyo.
moo-ree-ha-jee-ma-sae-yo. pee-ryo-ha-myun mool-
jom-ma-syuh-yo.
Take it easy now. Drink some water if you need to.
Words to Know
chaesik juuija
chae-shik-joo-ui-ja
Vegetarian
gogi
goo-gee
Meat
eumsik
eum-shik
Food
jogeum
jo-geum
Little
nara
na-ra
Country
saranghaeyo
sa-rang-hae-yo
I love you
Counting Korean Style
To say you know how to count in Korean, you have to know two distinct
counting systems. One is of Korean origin, native Korean numbers, and the other is of Chinese origin, Sino-Korean numbers. These two systems are used to count different things, and unfortunately what number system you use depends on what you want to count. Let’s start off by learning Korean numbers then learn Chinese numbers.
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Native Korean numbers
You can use Korean numbers to count from 1 to 99, and if you ever need to go beyond 99 you can start using Sino-Korean numbers. Although it isn’t the best thing to do, some Koreans will even use Sino-Korean numbers for numbers bigger than 20.
Table 2-3 lists Korean numbers.
Table 2-3
Korean Numbers
Number
Korean Name (Pronunciation)
1
hana (ha-na) *han
2
dul (dool) *du
3
set (set) *se
4
net (net) *ne
5
daseot (da-sut)
6
yeoseot (yuh-sut)
7
ilgop (il-gop)
8
yeodeol (yeodeol)
9
ahop (a-hop)
10
yeol (yuhl)
20
seumul (seu-mool) *seumu
30
seoreun (suh-reun)
40
maheun (ma-heun)
50
swin (sween)
60
yesun (ye-soon)
70
ilheun (il-heun)
80
yeodeun (yuh-deun)
90
aheun (a-heun)
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Now, say you want to count a number larger than 10 using Korean numbers, let’s say you feel like saying the number 22. In Korean you would say seumul-dul ( seu-mool-dool; 22). Essentially, what you are saying is 20, 2, just like you would in English, seumul ( seu-mool; 20) dul ( dool; 2).
Although whether you use Korean numbers, or Sino-Korean numbers
depends largely on what things you are counting, as a general rule of thumb, Korean numbers are used for counting distinct things one by one. For example, the replicates of pushups and kicks you do in a taekwondo dojangs ( taekwon-do-do-jang; Place where you learn Taekwondo), the number of people you meet, and the bottles of beer that you drink are counted using Korean numbers.
You might have noticed that five numbers (See Table 2-3 with *) hana, dul, set, net and seumul have a second form that I have marled with an asterisk (*). You use this secondary form when you combine these numbers with counters with which to count things. For example, bottles as byeong ( byoung; used to count bottles) , sheets as jang ( jang; used to count paper), people as myeong ( myoung; used to count people) and animals as mari ( ma-ree; used to count animals). Aside from the five numbers that I have written, you can just use the numbers themselves in Table 2-4. Hence, you would say seumu myeong ( seu-moo-myoung ) for 20 people and seumulne byeong (