Numbers & Questions

In this final lesson, you'll learn numbers and basic questions. Korean has two number systems, and here we'll start with the Sino-Korean numbers.

Sino-Korean Numbers

Number	Korean	Romanization
1 / 2 / 3	일 / 이 / 삼	il / i / sam
4 / 5 / 6	사 / 오 / 육	sa / o / yuk
7 / 8 / 9 / 10	칠 / 팔 / 구 / 십	chil / pal / gu / sip

Sino-Korean numbers are used for phone numbers, prices, dates, and minutes. For example, "10" is "sip," "20" is "isip," and "100" is "baek."

Basic Questions

"Mwoyeyo?" means "What is it?" and "eodiyeyo?" means "Where is it?" Just add "yeyo?" after a question word to form an easy question.

Question Word	Meaning	Romanization
뭐 / 무엇	what	mwo / mueot
어디	where	eodi
누구	who	nugu
언제	when	eonje

Raise your tone at the end of a statement and it turns into a question, as in "haksaengieyo." (statement) → "haksaengieyo?" (Are you a student?).

Number	Native Korean	Romanization
1 / 2 / 3	하나 / 둘 / 셋	hana / dul / set
4 / 5	넷 / 다섯	net / daseot

Two Number Systems

Korean has both Sino-Korean and native numbers. Use Sino-Korean for prices, phone numbers, and dates, and native numbers for counting, age, and the hour. So "sagwa se gae" uses native 셋→세, but "3,000 won" uses Sino-Korean 삼천.

More Question Words

"Wae" (why) and "eotteoke" (how) are common too. Place them before the verb, as in "wae an gayo?" (Why aren't you going?) and "eotteoke haeyo?" (How do I do it?).

💡 Tip: Once you're comfortable with Sino-Korean numbers, shopping gets much easier. Memorize "cheon = 1,000" and "man = 10,000" together.