# Counting in Korean



## chelz

If I want to say I am 22 years old, do I write "저는 스물 두 살이에요" or "스물 둘 살"? 
 
And if I want to say there are 30 people, 40 people, 50 people, 60 people, do I say "서른 명 있어요", 마흔 명" .... or must I drop the batchim and write "서르 명", "마 흐 명"?
 
감사합니다.


----------



## Goeun

저는 스물 두 살이에요. 
we don't say 스물 둘 살.
 


서른 명 있어요.
마흔 명 
쉰 명
예순 명
 

And we don't say 서르 명, 마 흐 명..
good luck.


----------



## THENSON9200

chelz said:


> If I want to say I am 22 years old, do I write "저는 스물 두 살이에요" or "스물 둘 살"?
> 
> And if I want to say there are 30 people, 40 people, 50 people, 60 people, do I say "서른 명 있어요", 마흔 명" .... or must I drop the batchim and write "서르 명", "마 흐 명"?
> 
> 감사합니다.


 

Goeun already answered your question, but not fully, in my opinion.  You were asking about the "batchim" (받침) as it relates to the pure Korean numbers.  Simply put, the numbers are written normally with only a few exceptions:

하나 becomes 한
둘 becomes 두
셋 becomes 세
넷 becomes 네
스물 becomes 스무

As far as I know (I'm just a student of Korean myself!), in front of a counting unit, such as people (명), years old (살) and things (개), these are the only irregulars.  You just have to memorize them.

Now, something interesting happens when you have a combination of these numbers, such as "22 years old."  In this case, only the second "2" is irregular, but the "20" part is not (since only the second two is next to the counting unit).  So, in Korean it would be 스물 두 살.  Notice that the 20 is in the regular form (스물) and the two is the irregular form (두), because, as I said, it is next to the counting unit (살).


----------



## barok

chelz said:


> If I want to say I am 22 years old, do I write "저는 스물 두 살이에요" or "스물 둘 살"?
> 
> And if I want to say there are 30 people, 40 people, 50 people, 60 people, do I say "서른 명 있어요", 마흔 명" .... or must I drop the batchim and write "서르 명", "마 흐 명"?
> 
> 감사합니다.



I think  you should know this first. The specific usage of number in words.
There are two kinds of counting numbers in Korean. (that I know). But since I don't have Hangul letters on my keyboard, please bear with my explanation using the syllables in English.
1. hana, tu(l), set, net, taso(t), yoso(t), ilgop, yodol, ahop, yul, that's 1,2,3...10.
    This form of counting is used in "age" of a person, and also used in telling "time".
2. il, i, sam, sa, o, yuk, chil, pal, ku, ship, That's also 1,2,3...10.
    This form of counting is used in "number" of persons and also for "things".

 So, the first is specifically used only in "age" and "time". While the second is specifically used in "normal counting" like the example above.

I didn't explain how to write it, as you are asking, but the proper usage of terms may confuse you. I thought it may help too.


----------



## Anais Ninn

barok said:


> So, the first is specifically used only in "age" and "time". While the second is specifically used in "normal counting" like the example above.



To the contrary, 하나(한), 둘(두), 셋(세), 넷(네)... is more frequently used while 일, 이, 삼, 사, an adopted counting system from Chinese, is usually used to read measurements or to read numbers. 

Telling the time in Korean is a little complicated. 한, 두, 세, 네...is used for 시, and 일, 이, 삼, 사 for 분 and 초.

Hope it helps.

Anais


----------

