Korean Sino Numbers 1 to 100: The Chinese-Origin System, Fast
Korean sino numbers — the system borrowed from Chinese — are used for dates, money, phone numbers, and anything above 99. This guide walks 1-100 with Hangul, romanization, and the combination rules that let you form every number in between.
Korean sino numbers — the system borrowed from Chinese — are used for dates, money, phone numbers, and anything above 99. This guide walks 1-100 with Hangul, romanization, and the combination rules that let you form every number in between.
Korean sino numbers (한자어 숫자, hanja-eo sutja) are the numeric system borrowed from Classical Chinese. You use them for dates, money, phone numbers, minutes, and anything above ninety-nine. They are easy to memorize because once you know 1–10 and the "hundred / thousand" words, you can build every other number by combining them.
Sino numbers 1–10
| Number | Hangul | Romanization |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 일 | il |
| 2 | 이 | i |
| 3 | 삼 | sam |
| 4 | 사 | sa |
| 5 | 오 | o |
| 6 | 육 | yuk |
| 7 | 칠 | chil |
| 8 | 팔 | pal |
| 9 | 구 | gu |
| 10 | 십 | sip |
Memorize these ten and you've done 70% of the work.
How 11 to 99 are built
Sino numbers compound like "ten-one, ten-two, two-ten, two-ten-one":
- 11 = 십일 (sip-il)
- 12 = 십이 (sip-i)
- 19 = 십구 (sip-gu)
- 20 = 이십 (i-sip)
- 21 = 이십일 (i-sip-il)
- 50 = 오십 (o-sip)
- 99 = 구십구 (gu-sip-gu)
The pattern: for tens, the digit comes first (이 = 2, so 이십 = "two-ten" = 20). For the ones place, add the single digit after.
The key milestone: 100
- 100 = 백 (baek)
From here you can build:
- 101 = 백일 (baek-il)
- 120 = 백이십 (baek-i-sip)
- 199 = 백구십구 (baek-gu-sip-gu)
When to use sino vs. native numbers
Korean has two number systems running in parallel. Use sino numbers for:
- Dates (year, month, day)
- Money and prices
- Phone numbers
- Minutes and seconds
- Addresses and floors
- Anything over 99
Use native (순우리말, sun-urimal) numbers for:
- Counting objects (one book, two people)
- Ages (casual speech)
- Hours on the clock
So the time "3:15" mixes both: 세 시 (native "three") 십오 분 (sino "fifteen").
Useful vocabulary
- 숫자 (sutja) — number / digit
- 한자어 (hanja-eo) — sino-Korean / Chinese-origin
- 날짜 (naljja) — date
- 가격 (gagyeok) — price
Related on Korean TokTok
Quick cheat sheet
Expressions in this post
