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Lesson 3

Lesson 3. Counters in Korean

When you count things or people in Korean, you often need to use what is called a “counter” or a "counting unit". In English, if you want to talk about books, and there happen to be three of them, you can simply say “three books”, but in Korean, you need to use the format of “book + three + counter”.

Listed below are some commonly used counters in Korean.

Counter / Pronunciation / Used with
개 / [gae] / things in general
명 / [myeong] / people
마리 / [ma-ri] / animals
벌 / [beol] / clothes
대 / [dae] / cars, computers, machines
자루 / [ja-ru] / pencils, pens, swords, knives
채 / [chae] / houses, buildings
켤레 / [kyeol-le] / shoes, socks
권 / [gwon] / books
부 / [bu] / newspapers, flyers
그루 / [geu-ru] / trees
송이 / [song-i] / flowers
쌍 / [ssang] / pairs
병 / [byeong] / bottles
잔 / [jan] / cup, glass for alcohol, tea, coffee
컵 / [keop] / cups
그릇 / [geu-reut] / bowls
살 / [sal] / age
장 / [jang] / pages, tickets
접시 / [jeop-ssi] / plates, dishes

Except for certain contexts where you need to use Sino-Korean numbers with counters (normally formal settings), most counters are used with native Korean numbers.

Example Sentences
Counter / Category
Example / Translation

개 / things in general
이거 한 개 주세요. [i-geo han gae ju-se-yo.] / Please give me one of these.

명 / people
몇 명 와요? [myeot myeong wa-yo?] / How many people will come?

마리 / animals
강아지 두 마리 키우고 있어요. [gang-a-ji du ma-ri ki-u-go i-sseo-yo.] / I have two dogs.

벌 / clothes
티셔츠를 세 벌 샀어요. [ti-syeo-cheu-reul se beol sa-sseo-yo.] / I bought three t-shirts.

대 / cars, computers, machines
저희 집에는 자동차가 두 대 있어요. [jeo-hui ji-be-neun ja-dong-cha-ga du dae i-sseo-yo.] / At my house, there are two cars.

자루 / pencils, pens, swords, knives
연필 세 자루가 필요해요. [yeon-pil se ja-ru-ga pi-ryo-hae-yo.] / I need three pencils.

채 / houses, buildings
저희 학교에는 건물이 아홉 채 있어요. [jeo-hui hak-kkyo-e-neun geon-mu-ri a-hop chae i-sseo-yo.] / At my school, there are 9 buildings.

켤레 / shoes, socks
양말이 한 켤레도 없어요. [yang-ma-ri han kyeol-le-do eop-sseo-yo.] / I don’t even have a single pair of socks.

권 / books
일 년에 책 몇 권 읽어요? [il nyeo-ne chaek myeot gwon il-geo-yo?] / How many books do you read a year?

부 / newspapers, flyers
전단지를 1000(천)부 출력했어요. [jeon-dan-ji-reul cheon-bu chul-lyeo-kae-sseo-yo.] / We printed 1,000 flyers.

그루 / trees
마당에 나무 한 그루를 심고 싶어요. [ma-dang-e na-mu han geu-ru-reul sim-kko si-peo-yo.] / I want to plant one tree in the yard.

송이 / flowers
어떤 남자가 저한테 장미 한 송이를 줬어요. [eo-tteon nam-ja-ga jeo-han-te jang-mi han song-i-reul jwo-sseo-yo.] / Some guy gave me a rose.

쌍 / pairs
신혼 부부 세 쌍이 왔어요. [sin-hon bu-bu se ssang-i wa-sseo-yo.] / Three newly-wed couples came.

병 / bottles
한 병 더 주세요. [han byeong deo ju-se-yo.] / Please give me one more bottle.

잔 / cup, glass for alcohol, tea, coffee
오렌지 주스 세 잔 주세요. [o-ren-ji ju-sseu se jan ju-se-yo.] / Please give me three cups of orange juice.

컵 / cups
물 한 컵만 주세요. [mul han keom-man ju-se-yo.] / Please give me a cup of water.

그릇 / bowls
밥을 세 그릇이나 먹었는데도 배가 고파요. [ba-beul se geu-reu-si-na meo-geon-neun-de-do bae-ga go-pa-yo.] / I had three bowls of rice but I’m still hungry.

살 / age
저는 스무 살이에요. [jeo-neun seu-mu sa-ri-e-yo.] / I am 20 years old.

장 / pages, tickets
어른 두 장, 어린이 한 장 주세요. [eo-reun du jang, eo-ri-ni han jang ju-se-yo.] / Please give me two tickets for adults, and one ticket for a child.

접시 / plates, dishes
벌써 두 접시 먹었어요. [beol-sseo du jeop-ssi meo-geo-sseo-yo.] / I already ate two plates of this.

Side Notes

  • In a formal setting, age can be expressed with the word 세 [se] instead of 살. In this case, you need to use Sino-Korean numbers instead of native Korean numbers.
    Ex) 90(구십)세, 80(팔십)세, etc.
  • When you talk about the amount of food in terms of how many servings, the word 인분 [in-bun] is used only with Sino-Korean numbers.
    Ex) 라면 1(일)인분, 떡볶이 3(삼)인분, etc.
  • For people, 명 can be used with both Sino-Korean and native Korean numbers. Additionally, the word 사람 [sa-ram] is often used as a counter as well.
  • Even if you forget or don't know all other counters that are listed here, knowing the counters 개 (for things), 명 (for people), and 마리 (for animals) is essential.