Numbers for prices: 일, 이, 삼

One to five

일, 이, 삼, 사, 오 — one to five, a single syllable each. Play them in order a few times, then out of order.

Korean has two sets of numbers. This is the set used for money, and it is all you need in this lesson. The second set, used for counting things, comes in the next lesson, so nothing has to be chosen yet.

일 and 삼 end in a final consonant; close the syllable without adding a vowel after it.

Six to ten

육, 칠, 팔, 구, 십 — six to ten. 칠 and 팔 both start with a puff of air and end in ㄹ; only the first consonant and the vowel tell them apart.

육 and 십 end in a stopped consonant: the mouth closes for ㄱ or ㅂ and nothing is released. With these ten words, every number in this lesson can be built.

Numbers above ten are built, not memorised

Compare the four. 십 is 10. 십일 is 10 + 1. 이십 is 2 × 10. 이십오 is 2 × 10 + 5.

The rule: a digit before 십 multiplies it, a digit after 십 is added. There are no separate words like “eleven” or “twenty”. One detail: ten is plain 십, never 일십.

Linking still applies: 십일 is pronounced [시빌], 이십오 [이시보].

The big units: 백, 천, 만

백 is 100, 천 is 1,000, and 만 is 10,000. They follow the same rule as 십: 오백 is 500, 삼천 is 3,000. On their own they need no 일: 100 is just 백.

만 is where English habits fail. English counts in thousands — “thirty thousand”. Korean has a unit for ten thousand, so 30,000 is three of them: 삼만.

Prices: number + 원

Korean money is counted in 원 (won), said after the number: 오백 원, 오천 원, 삼만 원. Everyday prices run into the thousands, so 천 and 만 are the units you will hear most.

Read the biggest unit first. 만 이천 원 is 10,000 + 2 × 1,000 = 12,000 won. Here 만 stands alone, so it is one ten-thousand, not 일만.

In writing, leave a space before 원 and after 만.

Asking the price

얼마예요? means “how much is it?”. It is built like 뭐예요? and 어디예요?: the question word 얼마 (how much) plus 예요. Point at the thing with 이거 and no particle: 이거 얼마예요?

The answer is the price plus 이에요, because 원 ends in a consonant: 오천 원이에요. The ㄴ links over, so you hear [워니에요].