#JomKoreanwithMawen | Native Korean Number System (수자 pt.2)

Last lesson, we learnt about the Sino numbering system of Korean from 0 to many many numbers. If you have not gone through, please go back to the lesson here so you can count numbers in Korean with 일(1), 이(2), 삼(3), 사(4) all the way to 구천구백구십구억 구천구백구십구만 구천구백구십구(999,999,999,999).

Practice saying 9 to 999999999 in Korean!

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Click here to check out Sino Korean Numbers!

The second system is the Native Korean Number System which is completely different from it’s pronunciation. This system is used mostly on counting, for example:

Eg, 1 puppy : 강아지 한 마리
5 books : 책 다섯 권

So instead of using Sino Korean in counting, Koreans use their native system. However, the two systems are exactly different including how we form numbers after 10. Let us learn how we count from 1 to 10 first!

• 1 – 하나 (ha-na)
• 2 – 둘 (dul)
• 3 – 셋 (set)
• 4 – 넷 (net)
• 5 – 다섯 (da-seot)
• 6 – 여섯 (yeo-seot)
• 7 – 일곱 (il-gob)
• 8 – 여덟 (yeo-deol)
• 9 – 아홉 (a-hop)
• 10 – 열 (yeol)

For numbers after 10, the system works similarly like English number system, as we have terms for each double digit numbers. For example, twenty(20) and thirty(30) so on. To count for each number after 10, we have to memorize these 10 number words as well.

• 20 – 스물 (seu-mul)
• 30 – 서른 (seo-reun)
• 40 – 마흔 (ma-heun)
• 50 – 쉰 (swin)
• 60 – 예순 (ye-sun)
• 70 – 일흔 (il-heun)
• 80 – 여든 (yeo-deun)
• 90 – 아흔 (a-heun)

Then we will go to how to combine these two series of words (1-10) and (10-90) in constructing numbers up to 99. This is very similar like English numbering system.

For example: 21 – Twenty(20) + Five(5) (in English)

For Korean example: 21 – 스물(20) + 다섯(5)
*this pattern works for number 11-19 as well (unlike English)

More example in Native Korean numbers:

• 17 – 열일곱 (10+7)
• 38 – 서른여덟 (30+8)
• 69 – 예순아홉 (60+9)
• 93 – 아흔셋 (90+3)

Fun Fact!
Korean Native numbers after 100 is less common and rarely being used! Even when counting item more than 10, most Koreans will use Sino numbering system as it’s much more easier to memorize (except for age).

As you have learnt both Sino and Native Korean Numbering systems, we will go to the application in the next lesson! So stay tune. 😀

Here are some videos you can refer to when learning Native Korean numbers!

Author

Melvin Tan

Content Manager (Language)
Online Supporter of Korean Embassy in Malaysia

Bio-science student in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Korean Enthusiasts
Korean learner for 10 years, but still amateur

Instagram: @tanmawen

Jom Korean with Mawen #2: Hangul 한글 Pt. 2 (-ㅡ, -ㅜ, -ㅗ, -ㅠ, -ㅛ)

Annyeonghasaeyo, everyone. How was the first lesson? Have you take some time to remember -ㅣ, -ㅓ, -ㅏ, -ㅑ, -ㅕ? Feel free to go back to our first lesson and practice writing with the worksheet provided here: Go back to the first lesson!

We will continue learning the next 5 vowel characters in Hangul. Last week, the 5 vowels are written from left to right in the syllable form. For example:

ㅇ(placeholder) + ㅏ(-a) = 아 (a)

ㅇ(placeholder) + ㅑ(-ya) = 야 (ya)

The next 5 vowel characters we learnt today, however, are written from top to bottom. These are the 2 possibilities of the character arrangement in forming a syllable. Let me introduce the 5 vowels for today, before we get deeper with the writing arrangement. The vowels for today have similar patterns and shapes with the first 5 we learnt.

The first one is similar like ‘-i’ (ㅣ), but it is rotated horizontally, forming ‘-eu’ (ㅡ). This is pronounced as ‘earl’ without the ‘-rlllll’ sound. There are less vocabulary with the word 으, but it is commonly used as an expression of annoyed, similar like ‘Ugh!’.

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Have you notice how ‘eu’ is written as a syllable itself? It is written from top to bottom, instead of left to right. Similarly, we should add the placeholder (ㅇ) first (top) before the vowel (bottom).

ㅇ (Placeholder) + ㅡ (-eu) = 으 (eu)

Easily, add a vertical stroke below the ‘ㅡ’ to form the second vowel ‘-u’ (ㅜ). This is very similar like a T shape. ‘U’ (ㅜ) is pronounced like ‘woo’. The word ‘우’ has several meanings in Korean, it can mean ‘right (direction)’ or ‘cow’. However, these meanings are rarely used, or only applied in phrases. You should be careful, as a word of a similar sound can have several meanings. Let’s have an easier phrase as an example, the word ‘우’ can be found in the word ‘we/us’ in Korean, ‘u-ri’ (우리).

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Do you remember how to transform ‘-ㅏ’ to ‘-ㅓ’? Rotation is the hint! Yes, this time we will rotate ‘ㅜ’ 180 degrees to form the third of today, ‘-o’ (ㅗ). You can relate this as an inverted T. ‘-ㅗ’ is pronounced as ‘aw’, which can get confusing with ‘eo’ (-ㅓ). There is some tips on how you can differentiate them. Honestly, you can get very confused by hearing them.

-ㅗ (-o): pronounce with rounded mouth, sounds like ‘aw’.

-ㅓ (-eo): pronounce with opened mouth, sounds like ‘oh’.

‘오’ (o) means number, five in Korean. Let’s have a bit of warm up before we go to Korean numbers later!

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Let’s have a quiz again! When we add another dash for ‘-a’ (-ㅏ), what will happen to ‘-ㅑ’? Yes, we have a ‘y’ sound to the ‘-a’, forming ‘ya’. This rule is similar to ‘u’ (ㅜ) as well. As we add another stroke to the ‘ㅜ’, it gives the ‘y’ sound, forming ‘yu’ (ㅠ). This sounds like You and I, ‘you’. As we relate ‘-u’ and ‘-yu’, it can form a vocabulary, ‘우유’ (u-yu) which means milk. Don’t you like Banana 우유?

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Have you guess the last one? If we add another stroke to ‘-o’ (-ㅗ), it will become ‘yo’ (-ㅛ). This is pronounce like ‘yo-yo’, yo! We are actually quite familiar with this ‘yo’ in Korean conversation. The formal language often ends with ‘yo’ (요), such as the often said ‘an-nyeong-ha-sae-요’.

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🎉🎉🎉 Yes! You have completed learning all the 10 vowel characters in Hangul! This worth a celebration. We are just 14 characters left from mastering all the Hangul characters. Let us recap all the vowels characters we have learnt so far.

Now, it takes time for you to practice writing them nicely, while remember them in your head. Spend your extra time doing some exercise, practice writing them in the worksheet below, and test yourself if you can recognize without referring to the notes. You can learn faster later as we learn the consonants, being able to read more Korean words in a sentence, only if you can get these vowels nailed in your head! Enjoy your #stayathome moment with #JomKoreanwithMawen.

Click here to download your second Hangul worksheetDownload

Learn Korean with me through #JomKoreanwithMawen video series, while enhance your understanding through lesson posts in MyDaehan to give you the best learning experience!

In next post, we will proceed with consonants, step-by-step in mastering all the 25 Hangul characters with you!

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Tune in every Saturday for new lesson posts and follow our Instagram @mydaehan2020 for #JomKoreanwithMawen video lesson series!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_WX6fCHwee/?utm_source=ig_embed

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Author

Melvin Tan

Content Manager (Language)
Online Supporter of Korean Embassy in Malaysia

Bio-science student in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Korean Enthusiasts
Korean learner for 10 years, but still amateur

Instagram: @tanmawen

Jom Korean with Mawen #1: Hangul 한글 Pt. 1 (-ㅣ, -ㅓ, -ㅏ, -ㅑ, -ㅕ)

Tune in every Saturdays in mydaehan.wordpress.com for the latest Korean lesson from Melvin!

안녕 하세요 (Annyeonghasaeyo)! Welcome to our first Korean learning space with me, Mawen. During this #stayathome period of MCO in our country, we all have that goal achievement list that you hope can achieve them while spending the free time meaningfully at home. People are reading recipes and trying them out in kitchen, some of us spend some couch potato moments to catch up the latest drama, while there are some of us passionately learning a new language.

I started learning Korean when I was 15. I was a ‘Hottest’ (2PM fans) during that young time, and the reason I wanted to learn Korean was because so that I can catch up the lyrics during their music shows to sing-along! Therefore, learning to read Korean was my first mission which eventually brought me into the whole journey of mastering Korean.

Korean characters are known as Hangul/Hangeul, 한글. Hangul is an unique writing system which is easy to learn and master. This is much related to its history. During the ancient Joseon dynasty, Korean language was mainly written in Chinese characters, Hanja. As Hanja was originated from foreign, the Korean language could not expressed fully of its meaning by Hanja. Common people who were not the intelligentsia were having difficulties in communicating with the authorities especially when in needs of black and white. King Sejong during the 1440s felt the sympathy of the people and eventually introduced this writing system in replacing Hanja. This set of 24 letters reflects the root of Korean culture being an independent and an unique identity from other nations. Until now, the Koreans are very proud of Hangul, as they celebrate Hangul Day (한글날) on October 9 every year. King Sejong was honorably respected by every Koreans. It is King Sejong, the one that stands out as a well-known statue of a great man sitting on the throne in front of Gwanghwamum.

King Sejong Statue in front of Gwanghwamun (광화문)

Hangul is easy to learn, as it has been simplified into characters with strokes and curves only. You will not be surprising, you can read a passage (without knowing it meaning first) after learning just for few weeks! This is why Koreans’ illiteracy rate is among the lowest. Hangul consists of 24 characters, with 10 vowels and 14 consonants. Combination of this characters form a syllable/word representing a pronunciation. Korean syllables are similar like blocks. Basically, a syllable block must consist of at least one consonant and one vowel character. There are words which represent only a vowel. Therefore, a ‘placeholder’ (ㅇ) is added to make up a valid wording block. Hence, a Hangul character must have at least 2 characters.

With the understanding of the role of a placeholder, let us start learning the first 5 vowels characters for this lesson. Today’s characters only involve two simple ‘drawing’, long vertical and short horizontal straight lines.

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First one, is ‘i’ (pronounce as e). It is written as a straight line from top to bottom. This character can be found from the sexy name of Park Seo-joon in Itaewon Class, Saeroyi (새로’이’).

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Secondly, draw a short dash at the right middle of ㅣ to turn into ‘a’ (ㅏ), as pronounce as ah. Surprisingly this vowel can be found from a beauty role in Itaewon Class too! Sae-ro-이’s first crush, Soo-ah (수아) has a ‘아’ in her name.

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Draw two dash to ㅣ for your third vowel character, ‘ya’ (ㅑ), pronounce like ‘ya’ in yacht. This sounds similar like the expression we often heard from Korean drama, when there are angry, shouting at someone, “야!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

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Let’s get back to the root ㅣ again, but we draw a dash at the middle left. It will be the forth vowel, ‘eo’ (ㅓ), pronounce as ‘oh’. This character is seen in the word ‘eo-je’ (어제), means ‘yesterday’.

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We get to the last one already? Draw two dashes on the left of ㅣ to form vowel ‘yeo’ (ㅕ) that pronounce as ‘yo’. Do you know what is ‘woman’ called in Korean? It is ‘yeo-ja’ (여자). Latata latata latata…. Do you know who sang this song? The hot K-pop girl group from Cube Entertainment, (G)I-DLE is called ‘yeo-ja-a-i-deul’ (‘여자’아이들) in Korean!

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How’s you learning so far? Isn’t it easy to follow? As we have learnt these 5 vowels, what it takes you is to remember and memorize, so you can recognize these characters from far! Practice writing the characters also helps you to carbon copy these patterns into your brain. Therefore, I have prepared you a worksheet to practice writing it! Spend a 5-minute break from your work, and practice writing the characters while pronounce it loudly for your brain to memorize.

Click here to download your first Hangul worksheet!Download

Learn Korean with me through #JomKoreanwithMawen video series, while enhance your understanding through lesson posts in MyDaehan to give you the best learning experience!

–Streaming after 1.30PM, 25/4/2020–

In next post, we will continue learning another 5 vowels, step-by-step in mastering all the 25 Hangul characters with you!

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Tune in every Saturday for new lesson posts and follow our Instagram @mydaehan2020 for #JomKoreanwithMawen video lesson series!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_WX6fCHwee/

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Author

Melvin Tan

Content Manager (Language)
Online Supporter of Korean Embassy in Malaysia

Bio-science student in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Korean Enthusiasts
Korean learner for 10 years, but still amateur

Instagram: @tanmawen