An aspect that is distinct about Korean, compared to English, is the existence of counting nouns, or unit nouns. These words are unique depending upon the thing that you are counting.
There are, to be exact, a TON of counting words, far more than we can cover in this email. But we are going to get through the ones that come up in everyday life and should get you through 99% of conversations.
Let's dive in!
First off, we should chat about the structure of how to use the counting nouns. There are counting nouns for both Natural Korean numbers as well as Sino-Korean numbers. Let's start with the Natural Korean numbers, like
하나, 둘, 셋, 넷,...
But then when you use the counting nouns, a few of the numbers change a bit:
하나 (1) → 한
둘 (2) → 두
셋 (3) → 세
넷 (4) → 네
스물 (20) → 스무
Finally you place the counting noun (let's use 개, for example) after the numbers to count the number of that thing:
한 개, 두 개, 세 개, 네 개,...
So, now that we have a good idea about the structure, I'm going to list the noun, which system it belongs to (Natural Korean or Sino-Korean), the thing that it counts, and an example. It might look like a lot, but it covers pretty much what you use most days. We can chat about some of the more rare counting nouns another day!
| Counting Noun (Korean) | Typical Number System | What it Counts | Example (Korean & English) |
| 개 | Natural Korean | General inanimate objects | 사과 한 개 - one apple |
| 명 | Natural Korean | People (informal) | 학생 두 명 - two students |
| 분 | Natural Korean | People (honorific) | 선생님 세 분 - three teachers |
| 마리 | Natural Korean | Animals (including birds, fish) | 고양이 네 마리 - four cats |
| 살 | Natural Korean | Age | 다섯 살 - five years old |
| 권 | Natural Korean | Books, magazines, notebooks | 책 한 권 - one book |
| 장 | Natural Korean | Thin, flat objects (paper, tickets) | 종이 두 장 - two sheets of paper |
| 벌 | Natural Korean | Clothing items (suits, dresses) | 옷 세 벌 - three sets of clothes |
| 병 | Natural Korean | Bottles | 물 네 병 - four bottles of water |
| 잔 | Natural Korean | Cups or glasses of drinks | 커피 한 잔 - one cup of coffee |
| 대 | Natural Korean | Vehicles, machines | 차 두 대 - two cars |
| 채 | Natural Korean | Houses, buildings | 집 세 채 - three houses |
| 그루 | Natural Korean | Trees | 나무 한 그루 - one tree |
| 조각 | Natural Korean | Slices or pieces | 피자 두 조각 - two slices of pizza |
| 자루 | Natural Korean | Long, slender objects (pencils) | 연필 세 자루 - three pencils |
| 켤레 | Natural Korean | Pairs of shoes or socks | 신발 한 켤레 - one pair of shoes |
| 송이 | Natural Korean | Picked flowers, bunches of fruit | 꽃 한 송이 - one flower |
| 줄 | Natural Korean | Items in a line | 김밥 두 줄 - two rolls of 김밥 |
| 년 | Sino-Korean | Years | 이천이십오 년 - 2025 |
| 월 | Sino-Korean | Months (of the year) | 칠 월 - July |
| 일 | Sino-Korean | Days (of the month) | 이십육 일 - the 26th |
| 개월 | Sino-Korean | Duration of months | 삼 개월 - three months (duration) |
| 시 | Natural Korean | Hours (of the clock) | 네 시 - four o'clock |
| 분 | Sino-Korean | Minutes | 삼십 분 - thirty minutes |
| 초 | Sino-Korean | Seconds | 십 초 - ten seconds |
| 원 | Sino-Korean | Korean currency | 천 원 - one thousand won |
| 층 | Sino-Korean | Floors of a building | 오 층 - fifth floor |
| 인분 | Sino-Korean | Servings of food | 삼 인분 - three servings |
So, let's practice a few examples:
Say, that you're at a 떡볶이 집 with your friends and you want to order 3 servings of 떡볶이. How would you say that?
"안녕하세요! 떡볶이 삼 인분 주세요!" = Hello! Three servings of tteokbokki please!
Here's another one!
Suppose you pulled an all-nighter studying for an exam, then in the morning before the test your friend sees you and asks: "How many coffees did you have this morning?"
You could say something like: "나는 커피 다섯 잔이나 마셨어. 아이고..." = I drank, like, 5 coffees...Oh no...
For a last example, let's suppose that you live in Seoul and have a tremendous amount of pets. Definitely way more than you should, but you don't care. You own 13 fish 🐟, 3 dogs 🐶, 4 cats 🐈, and a rabbit 🐇. Someone asks you which of your pets is your favorite and you respond with:
"무슨 말이에요...저는 21마리 동물들을 모두 똑같이 사랑해요. 그리고 저는 외롭지 않아요." = What are you talking about...I love all 21 animals equally. And no, I'm not lonely.