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Cardinal Numerals

In the Korean language, there are two types of cardinal numerals: cardinal numerals of Korean origin, and cardinal numerals of Chinese origin

Cardinal numerals of Korean origin

These numerals are used for to express quantities between 0 and 99 only.

Compound numerals are formed by combining two numerals:

열둘 "twelve" (열"ten" + 둘"two")

마흔 일곱 "forty seven" (마흔"forty" + 일곱"seven")

Korean

English

영/ 공

"zero"

하나

"one"

"two"

"three"

"four"

다섯

"five"

여섯

"six"

일곱

"seven"

여덟

"eight"

아홉

"nine"

"ten"

열하나

"eleven"

열둘

"twelve"

열셋

"thirteen"

열넷

"fourteen"

열다섯

"fifteen"

열여섯

"sixteen"

열일곱

"seventeen"

열여덟

"eighteen"

열아홉

"nineteen"

스물

"twenty"

서른

"thirty"

마흔

"forty"

"fifty"

예순

"sixty"

일흔

"seventy"

여든

"eighty"

아흔

"ninety"

Cardinal Numerals of Chinese origin

These numerals are used to express any quantity of objects, without limitation. All the numerals are divided into four categories: ones, dozens, hundreds, and thousands. Compound numerals are formed by multiplying the smaller category by the bigger category or by addition.

칠천 "seven thousand" (칠 "seven" x 천 "thousand")

백이 "one hundred and two" (백"hundred" + 이"two")

육만삼천오백사십구 "sixty three thousand five hundred forty nine" (육 "six" x 만 "ten thousand" + 삼 "three" x 천"thousand" + 오 "five" x 백 "hundred" + 사 "four" x 십"ten" + 구"nine").

Korean

English

"one"

"two"

"three"

"four"

"five"

"six"

"seven"

"eight"

"nine"

"ten"

"hundred"

"thousand"

"ten thousand"

"hundred of millions"

"billion"

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