몇 번 : what number / which number

몇 means ‘how many’ but when used with 번 together, the meaning of 몇 becomes ‘what’ or ‘which’.

‘몇 번’ is normally used to ask a question which involves the answer to be in numbers e.g. telephone number or bus number.

In this case, we will answer using Sino-Korean numbers.

We will normally attach ’예요/이에요?’ as the ending when ’몇 번’ is used.

 

Ex1)

Q: 몇 번 버스예요? (What is bus number)

A: 502번 버스예요.  (It is number 502)

{502번 is pronounced as 오백 이 번 in this case because we are using Sino-Korean numbers}

{번 means number}

{버스 means bus}

{As 버스 is a noun and ends in a vowel, we will attach 예요 to it}

 

Ex2)

Q: 전화번호가 몇 번이에요? (What is your telephone number)

A: 224-2243이에요. (It is 224-2243)

{In this case,  ’224-2243′ is pronounced as ‘이이사에 이이사삼’ because we are using Sino-Korean numbers and the ‘-’ is pronounced as ‘에’ when using together with numbers}

{전화번호 means telephone number}

 

 

얼마예요? : how much is it?

‘얼마예요?’ is used to ask about the price of an item. Ex) 이 가방이 얼마예요? (How much is this bag) {이 means this} {가방 means bag}

Marker : 에

‘에’ is the marker to indicate object location/place marker and time/date.

 

1. Object location/place marker

When ‘에’ is used to indicate object location/place marker, “있어요” or ”없어요” is always used. In this case, ‘에’ is similar to ‘at’ in English.

Ex) 앤디 씨가 학교에 있어요. (Andy is at school)

{학교 means school}

 

2. Time/Date

‘에’ is also a marker that indicates time or date.

Ex) 저는 3월에 한국에 가요. (I go to Korea in March)

{3월 means March}

{한국 means Korea}

{가요 means go}

{The first 에 that appears behind 3월 is the time/place marker}

{The second 에 that appears and not being highlighted, is the object location/place marker}

 

어디 : where

‘어디’ means ‘where’ in English.

We normally use ‘어디’ when we want to ask the whereabouts of something or someone.

‘에’ is normally attached to ‘어디’ and the verb ‘있어요’ is used.

 

Ex) Qns: 서울이 어디에 있어요? (Where is Seoul?)

{‘서울’ means ‘Seoul’}

{‘에’ is normally attached to ‘어디’ and in this case, ‘에’ means ‘at, in (place)’}

{‘있어요’ means existence in this case}

누구 : who

‘누구’ means ‘who’ in English.

We normally attach ‘예요?’ after ‘누구’.

 

Ex) Qns: 이분이 누구예요? (Who is this person?)

{The first ‘이’ means ‘this’}

{‘분’ means ‘person’. We normally use ‘사람’ or ‘분’ for ‘person’. ‘사람’ is the informal form whereas ‘분’ is the polite/formal form. In the above question, as we do not know the person at all, thus, we will use the polite form when asking the question, so as to show respect to the person.}

{The second ‘이’ behind the ‘분’ does not stand for ‘this’. The second ‘이’ is the subject particle as ‘분’ is the subject in this question.}

Sino-Korean numbers

There are 2 numbering systems in Korean and the other one is the Sino-Korean numbers.

Sino-Korean numbers are used for reading the numerals.

Sino-Korean numbers

0 영

1 일

2 이

3 삼

4 사

5 오

6 육

7 칠

8 팔

9 구

10 십

11 십 일

12 십 이

20 이십

30 삼십

40 사십

50 오십

60 욕십

70 칠십

80 팔십

90 구십

100 백

1,000 천

10,000 만

100,000 십만

1,000,000 백만

Sino-Korean numbers can be used to express price, telephone or bus numbers and dates.

 

Price

 

Ex 1) 이 가방이 20,000원이에요. (This bag costs 20,000won)

When we pronounce, it goes like this => 이 가방이 이만 원이에요.

{‘이’ means ‘this’}

{‘가방’ means bag}

Ex 2) 이 가방이 10,000원이에요. (This bag costs 10,000won)

When we pronounce, it goes like this => 이 가방이 만 원이에요.

 

Month

There are some exception cases when we pronounce the months of June and October.

January: 1월 (일월)

February: 2월 (이월)

March: 3월 (삼월)

April: 4월 (사월)

May: 5월 (오월)

June: 6월 (유월)

July: 7월 (칠월)

August: 8월 (팔월)

September: 9월 (구월)

October: 10월 (시월)

November: 11월 (십일월)

December: 12월 (십이월)

Note

1) When the Sino-Korean numbers are 100, 1000, 10000 etc, we will not pronounce the ‘일’.

Ex 1) 1,200원 => 천 이백원

Ex 2) 10,110원 => 만 백십원

2) The word for zero is ‘영’. However, when saying a telephone number, another word, ‘공’ is used for zero.

Ex) Telephone number: 02-225-2225

When we pronounce, it goes like this => 공이 에 이이오 에 이이이오.

{’0′ => ‘공’}

{‘-’ => ‘에’, we will pronounce ‘-’ as ‘에’ in phone numbers}

Korean numbers

There are 2 numbering systems in Korean and one of them is Korean numbers.

Korean numbers are mostly used for counting and a counter is usually attached to the Korean numbers.

Korean numbers

1 하나

2 둘

3 셋

4 넷

5 다섯

6 여섯

7 일곱

8 여덟

9 아홉

10 열

11 열 하나

12 열 둘

13 열 셋

14 열 넷

15 열 다섯

16 열 여섯

17 열 일곱

18 열 여덟

19 열 아홉

20 스물

30 서른

40 마흔

50 쉰

60 예순

70 일흔

80 여든

90 아흔

Ex) Qns: 몇 명 있어요? (How many people are there?)

Ans: 다섯 명 있어요. (There are 5 people.)

 

Note

Please take note that the following Korean numbers change their forms when used with counters:

하나 -> 한 개

둘 -> 두 개

셋 -> 세 개

넷 -> 네 개