Numerals in Writing: Arabic, Sino & Native | Korean Grammar

Open any Korean newspaper, menu, or text message and you will see numbers everywhere — mostly as the familiar Arabic digits 1, 2, 3. So on the surface, writing numbers in Korean looks reassuringly easy. The complications are hiding underneath: those digits are read in one of two entirely different number systems, and when a number does get spelled out in Hangul, it is grouped in a way that quietly breaks the mental arithmetic of every English speaker. This page is about how numbers appear on the page and how to read them aloud correctly. The deeper grammar of counting — counters, word order, agreement — lives in the Numbers group; here we stay on the orthographic surface.

Arabic digits are the default

In everyday modern Korean, numbers are written with Arabic numerals far more often than they are spelled out in Hangul. Dates, prices, times, ages, quantities, phone numbers — almost all of them appear as digits, with a Hangul counter or unit attached.

지금 3시 5분이에요.

jigeum se si o buni-eyo

It's 3:05 right now.

이 커피는 4,500원이에요.

i keopineun sacheonobaek woni-eyo

This coffee is 4,500 won.

5시에 만나요.

daseot sie mannayo

Let's meet at 5.

Notice something crucial in those three sentences: the digit 5 is read 오 (o) in the price but 다섯 / 세 in the times. The written digit is identical; the spoken value comes from two different systems. That is the heart of this topic.

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A digit on the page tells you the quantity but not the reading. To say a number out loud, you first have to decide which of Korea's two number systems the context calls for. English has only one set of number words, so this decision is invisible to you until you learn to make it.

The two number systems

Korean carries two complete sets of numbers, and both are in daily use.

Sino-Korean numbers come from Chinese roots (the same hanja layer discussed on the Hanja background page). They are used for dates, money, minutes, phone numbers, addresses, measurements, and arithmetic.

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

Native Korean numbers are the inherited, non-borrowed set. They are used for the hour of the clock, ages, and counting objects, people, and animals with a counter.

Digit	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Native	하나	둘	셋	넷	다섯	여섯	일곱	여덟	아홉	열
RR	hana	dul	set	net	daseot	yeoseot	ilgop	yeodeol	ahop	yeol

The native forms 하나, 둘, 셋, 넷 shorten to 한, 두, 세, 네 directly in front of a counter, and 스물 (twenty) shortens to 스무. So you write "20 years old" as 스무 살, never ×스물 살.

우리 아이는 여섯 살이에요.

uri aineun yeoseot sari-eyo

My child is six years old.

사과 다섯 개 주세요.

sagwa daseot gae juseyo

Five apples, please.

Which system does a digit take?

The choice is not free — it is fixed by what the number is counting. Here is the practical split you will use constantly.

Use Sino-Korean for…	Use native Korean for…
Dates: 3월 5일 (samwol o-il)	The hour: 세 시 (se si)
Money: 500원 (obaek won)	Ages (casual): 스무 살 (seumu sal)
Minutes: 10분 (sip bun)	Counting objects: 다섯 개 (daseot gae)
Phone numbers, addresses	Counting people: 세 명 (se myeong)
Math, measurements, quantities over ~100	Counting animals: 두 마리 (du mari)

The most famous consequence is the clock, which mixes the two systems inside a single expression: the hour is native, the minutes are Sino. So 3:05 is 세 시 오 분 — native 세 for the hour, Sino 오 for the minutes.

회의가 2시 30분에 시작해요.

hoeuiga du si samsip bune sijakaeyo

The meeting starts at 2:30.

제 생일은 2월 14일이에요.

je saengireun iwol sipsa-iri-eyo

My birthday is February 14th.

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The clock is the trap that catches everyone: native hour, Sino minute. 2시 30분 = 두 시 삼십 분, never ×이 시 삼십 분 and never ×두 시 서른 분. Read the hour with native numbers and the minutes with Sino numbers, every single time.

Spelling numbers out: the myriad boundary at 만

When a number is written in Hangul rather than digits, English speakers hit the single biggest adjustment on this page. English groups large numbers by thousands — that is what the commas in 1,000 / 1,000,000 mark. Korean's spoken system groups by myriads, units of ten thousand (만).

Value	Korean	RR
10,000	만	man
30,000	삼만	samman
100,000	십만	simman
1,000,000	백만	baengman
10,000,000	천만	cheonman
100,000,000	억	eok

The word 만 is not "a thousand" — it is ten thousand. So 삼만 means 30,000, not 3,000, and 십만 means 100,000, not "ten-thousand-something." The next named unit above 만 is not "million" but 억 at one hundred million. There is no single word for "million" at all; a million is spelled 백만 (literally "hundred-myriad").

그 회사는 직원이 3만 명이에요.

geu hoesaneun jigwoni samman myeongi-eyo

That company has 30,000 employees.

그 시계는 십만 원쯤 해요.

geu sigyeneun simman wonjjeum haeyo

That watch costs about 100,000 won.

Notice the first example: 3만 명. Korean routinely mixes an Arabic digit with a Hangul unit — 3만 (30,000), 5억 (500,000,000) — because the digit shows the multiplier and the Hangul shows the myriad place. This hybrid is completely normal in newspapers and signage.

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Re-anchor your mental commas. In Korean, put a break every four zeros, not every three: 10,000 = 만, 100,000,000 = 억. When you see 만, translate it to "ten thousand," never "thousand." 삼만 = 30,000.

A note on the comma

Even though the spoken system is myriad-based, written Korean still uses the international thousands comma in its Arabic numerals: 4,500 and 1,200,000 are written exactly as in English. So the eye sees thousands-grouping while the tongue reads myriads-grouping — the comma placement and the spoken word boundaries simply do not line up. That mismatch is why fluent readers still occasionally pause on a big price tag.

Two special month readings

Dates use Sino numbers, but two months have an irregular spelling: June is 유월 (not ×육월) and October is 시월 (not ×십월). The final consonant of 육 and 십 drops before 월. Every other month is regular (3월 = 삼월, 7월 = 칠월).

여름 방학은 6월에 시작해요.

yeoreum banghageun yuwore sijakaeyo

Summer break starts in June.

Common Mistakes

1. Reading the clock's hour with Sino numbers. The hour is native; only the minutes are Sino.

❌ 지금 삼 시예요.

Incorrect — the hour must be native (세 시), not Sino (삼 시).

✅ 지금 세 시예요.

jigeum se si-eyo

It's three o'clock now.

2. Confusing 분 the minute with 분 the honorific person-counter. "2 minutes" is Sino 이 분; ×두 분 uses native numbers and means "two people (honorific)."

❌ 두 분만 기다려 주세요.

Incorrect if you mean '2 minutes' — 두 분 means 'two people (honorific).'

✅ 2분만 기다려 주세요.

i bunman gidaryeo juseyo

Please wait just two minutes.

3. Reading 만 as "thousand." 만 is ten thousand, so 삼만 is 30,000, not 3,000.

❌ 삼만 원 = 3,000원

Incorrect — 삼만 원 is 30,000 won, not 3,000 won.

✅ 삼만 원은 3만 원이에요.

samman woneun samman wonieyo

'삼만 원' is 30,000 won.

4. Using native numbers for months, dates, or money. These are always Sino.

❌ 다섯 월에 여행 가요.

Incorrect — May is 오월 (Sino), not 다섯 월 (native).

✅ 오월에 여행 가요.

owore yeohaeng gayo

I'm traveling in May.

5. Writing 육월 / 십월 for June and October. These two months drop a consonant: 유월, 시월.

❌ 십월 삼일에 만나요.

Incorrect spelling — October is 시월, not 십월.

✅ 시월 삼일에 만나요.

siwol samire mannayo

Let's meet on October 3rd.

Key Takeaways

Numbers usually appear as Arabic digits; the digit shows quantity, not reading.
Two systems: Sino-Korean (dates, money, minutes, phone numbers, math) and native Korean (hours, ages, counting with a counter).
The clock mixes them: native hour + Sino minute (세 시 오 분).
Large numbers group by myriads (만 = 10,000), not thousands, so 삼만 = 30,000 and there is no word for "million" (백만).
Watch the two irregular month spellings: 유월 (June) and 시월 (October).

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