3.11 Numbers — Two Systems — Epoché
What you will be able to do Count with the native system for small quantities of things: 맥주 두 잔 주세요. Count with the Sino-Korean system for minutes, months, floors, money and everything measured: 1분만 도와주시겠어요? Put a counter between the number and nothing at all, because the counter follows the number and the noun comes first: 와인 한 병 더 주세요. Say why a counter is compulsory in Korean and optional in English, and what English does instead. Recognise that the first four native numbers change shape in front of a counter, which is the only irregularity in the system. Prerequisites : 3.6, which gave you the verb for existence, because most of the sentences below say that a quantity of something exists. You also want 3.10 Grammar , where the counter for glasses appeared twice without being explained. Korean has two complete systems of numbers and uses both, in the same sentence if necessary. One is native Korean and one is borrowed from Chinese, and the choice between them is decided by the thing being counted, not by the speaker. That is genuinely more work than English asks for, and there is no way round it: a Korean child learns both, and so does everybody else. The compensation is that the rule is regular, the boundary between the two systems is sharp, and the list of native numbers you need is short. The pattern A counted phrase has three parts in this order: the thing, the number, the counter. English puts the number first and the thing last, so the order is reversed at both ends. Korean Block by block English 커피 한 잔? [1] 커피 coffee · 한 one · 잔 glass Do you want a cup of coffee? 맥주 한 잔 어때요? [2] 맥주 beer · 한 one · 잔 glass · 어때요 how about What about a glass of beer? 맥주 두 잔 주세요. [5] 맥주 beer · 두 two · 잔 glasses · 주세요 give Two beers, please. 사과 주스 두 잔 주세요. [6] 사과 주스 apple juice · 두 two · 잔 glasses Two glasses of apple juice, please. 와인 한 병 더 주세요. [3] 와인 wine · 한 one · 병 bottle · 더 more One more bottle of wine, please. 커피 한 잔 더 부탁드릴게요. [4] 커피 coffee · 한 잔 one glass · 더 more Please give me another cup of coffee. 이거 3개 주세요. [8] 이거 this · 3개 three items · 주세요 give I'd like three of these. 나는 사과가 몇 개 있어요. [9] 사과가 apples · 몇 개 a few items · 있어요 exist I have a few apples. The native system is used for counting things you can see and handle, and for people, animals, ages, hours of the clock and times of doing something. It is short: beyond a hundred it hardly exists in ordinary speech, and beyond twenty it is rare. Its first four numbers take a shortened shape when a counter follows, which is the only irregularity in the whole system, and it accounts for the forms in every sentence above. Counting alone Before a counter Seen in one 한 커피 한 잔? [1] two 두 맥주 두 잔 주세요. [5] how many 몇 몇 살이세요? [10] The Sino-Korean system is used for minutes, months, days of the month, years, money, floors, telephone numbers, addresses, and anything measured rather than counted. It goes up indefinitely and is the system used for arithmetic. Korean What is counted English 1분만 도와주시겠어요? [14] minutes Can you help me for just a minute? 아직 10 분 안 됬어요. [15] minutes It hasn't been 10 minutes yet. 8년 전에 결혼했어요. [12] years I got married 8 years ago. 저는 7년 동안 한국에서 살았어요. [13] years I lived in Korea for seven years. 나는 6층에 산다. [16] floors I live on the 6th floor. 컴퓨터는 몇 층에 있어요? [17] floors What floor is the computer on? 일년은 십이개월이다. [18] months A year has twelve months. 10월 3일이다. [19] the calendar It's October the third. 1, 3, 5는 홀수이다. [23] arithmetic One, three, and five are odd numbers. The seventh of these is worth reading twice. 일년은 십이개월이다. writes both numbers out in Hangul rather than in digits, which is how you see the Sino-Korean numbers spelled when they are not abbreviated to figures. Most printed Korean uses digits, exactly as English does, and the digits are read aloud in whichever system the counter demands. That is why 이거 3개 주세요. is written with a figure and said with a native number, and why reading Korean numbers aloud is a separate skill from reading them. Age is the place where both systems meet in ordinary conversation, and where a learner is most likely to be asked a question and fail to answer it. Korean System English 몇 살이세요? [10] native counter for years of age How old are you? 27살 입니다. [11] the same counter with a figure I'm 27 years old. The second of those is quoted from the corpus in the formal style rather than the polite style of this phase, and it is here because the number is the point. Note that the figure is read with the native system, so the written form gives no clue to the pronunciation. The clock does the same thing inside a single expression, and it is the reason both systems have to be learned before the next lesson. Hours take native numbers and minutes take Sino-Korean ones, so a Korean saying the time changes systems halfway through without noticing. 몇 시예요? [20] asks for the hour, and the answer will begin in one system and, if minutes are given, continue in the other. How This Differs from English English has one system and Korean has two. There is no shortcut and no principle that will let you deduce which system a counter takes: it has to be learned with the counter, as a pair. The consolation is that the pairing is fixed and does not vary by region, register or speaker. Learn "glass" with the native numbers and "minute" with the Sino-Korean ones and you will never have to think about either again. The counter is compulsory. English says "three apples" and needs a counter only for things that resist counting: three slices of bread, two sheets of paper. Korean needs one for everything, and the general-purpose counter for objects covers whatever has no special one. 이거 3개 주세요. uses it, and a learner who knows only that counter can shop successfully. The order is reversed. English puts the number before the noun. Korean puts the noun first and the number and counter after it, which means that in 맥주 두 잔 주세요. the listener knows what you want before knowing how much of it you want. This is the same principle a