Shopping 1: Saying Prices

1. Numbers

Prices in Korea are in won. 1,000 won is about one US dollar, so you'll get a lot of practice using thousands when shopping in Korea.

1	일	il
2	이	ee
3	삼	sam
4	사	sah
5	오	oh
6	육	yook
7	칠	chil
8	팔	pahl
9	구	goo
10	십	ship
100	백	bek
1,000	천	chun
10,000	만	mahn

Form numbers like this:

19 is 십구, literally "ten nine"

20 is 이십, literally "two ten"

21 is 이십일, literally "two ten one"

The "p" in 십 becomes a "b" sound when numbers come after it. So you say ee ship (20), but you say ee shib il (21).

But when 십 is followed by a six, the "p" becomes like an "m." 26 is said ee shim yook, not ee ship yook.

When it's one hundred, one thousand, etc., don't say "one." Rather, just say the number.

100 is 백, not 일백

10,000 is 만, not 일만

The same pattern follows for forming larger numbers:

2,000: 이천

1,538: 일천오백삼십팔

But in Korean numbers are formed around the ten-thousands place rather than the thousands place.

30,000 is 삼만, not 삼십천

11,000 is 만일천

428,000 is 사십이만팔천

To turn that into won, just add 원 afterwards. The symbol is ₩.

627,000 won is 육십이만칠천 원

2. Quiz Yourself

Answers are below.

A. Write these numbers in Korean:

1. 1,000

2. 3,500

3. 78

4. 45,000

5. 905,028

B. Write these numbers in digits:

6. 육십사

7. 백사

8. 사만사천이백

9. 오십구만이천

10. 칠천팔백십육

Answers: 1. 천 2. 삼천오백 3. 칠십팔 4. 사만오천 5. 구십만오천 이십팔 6. 64 7. 104 8. 34,200 9. 592,000 10. 7,816