Korean Counter Mari (마리): How to Count Animals in Korean

What you'll learn

• Count animals, fish, birds and insects from one to ten with 마리.
• Ask 몇 마리예요? and answer in a full sentence.
• Tell 개 한 마리 (one dog) apart from 한 개 (one item).
• Decide when food such as chicken takes 마리 and when it takes a serving counter.

Prerequisites: native Korean numbers 1-10. Estimated time: 30 minutes.

Korean Counter Mari: the Essentials

The Korean counter mari (마리) is the word you attach to a number when you count living animals. A counter is a small word that follows a number and says what kind of thing is being counted, like "head" in "ten head of cattle". Korean uses one almost every time, and 마리 is the one for animals.

The pattern is: animal + native number + 마리.

In each row, the noun comes first, then the number, then 마리, and there is a space between the number and the counter. The counter never goes before the animal. English speakers sometimes want to say "two-cat" in Korean order, but 두 마리 고양이 is not the normal pattern.

The word 마리 does not change with the animal's size. A mouse, a dog and a whale all take it. The next section drills the number forms.

How Do You Use 마리 in a Sentence?

To use 마리 in a sentence, say the animal, a native number and 마리, then add the verb you need. Because 마리 behaves like the people counter 명, the same sentence patterns work. Here are the numbers one to ten with 마리.

The spoken column shows nasalization: a final ㅅ, ㅂ or ㄷ sound turns into a nasal sound before the ㅁ of 마리. That is why 다섯 마리 sounds like [다선 마리]. The rule is Article 18 of the standard pronunciation rules (표준 발음법) of the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원).

Now use the numbers in four common sentence patterns.

The question 몇 마리예요? is pronounced [면 마리예요]. The word 몇 means "how many". You can ask it at a pet shop, an aquarium or a farm, and the answer follows the same pattern: 세 마리예요 (it is three animals).

Learners often confuse two words that sound the same. The next section sorts them out.

The Homophone Trap: 개 한 마리 or 한 개?

The animal 개 (dog) and the general counter 개 (item) are homophones: both are spoken [개]. The difference is the word order and the counter that goes with each. A dog is counted as 개 한 마리, with 마리. An object is counted as 한 개, with the counter 개 coming after the number.

The wrong phrase in the last row is not what Koreans say about a pet. If you hear 개 한 개, something has gone wrong, because a dog is an animal, so it takes 마리. The default counter for objects is covered on the 개 counter page.

Expert tip: when you meet 개 in a sentence, look at what follows the number. If it is 마리, the 개 before it is a dog. If the word before the number is an object, the 개 after the number is the counter. Context solves the puzzle almost every time.

Next, check the number system this counter takes.

Which Number System Does It Take?

The counter 마리 takes native Korean numbers (하나, 둘, 셋) up to 99, and Sino-Korean numbers (일, 이, 삼) from 100 upward. The five numbers 하나, 둘, 셋, 넷 and 스물 shorten before the counter, as they do before every counter.

Notice that 20 is 스무, not 스물. Beginners often say 스물 마리, which is the standalone number and not the counting form. For a full list, see native Korean numbers 1-100.

You now know the forms. The harder question is what you can count with them.

Which Animals Take 마리?

Every living animal that is not a person takes 마리, whatever its size or habitat. The table groups them so you can see that Korean does not need a different counter for each kind.

Large farm animals deserve a note. In everyday speech, 마리 also counts cattle and horses. In farming statistics and formal writing, the Sino-Korean counter 두 (頭, literally "head") may appear instead, as in 소 10두 (read 십 두, ten head of cattle). Conversation learners can safely use 마리 for all of them.

For the Korean names of many more animals, browse animals in Korean.

Things That 마리 Does Not Count

The counter 마리 does not count people, objects or parts of an animal. Each of those has its own counter, and swapping them is the most frequent mistake. The table shows the correct choice.

A stuffed animal is an object, so 인형 한 개 (one doll) is the safe choice. Learn 명 on the 명 counter page. The distinction is simple: living animal means 마리, person means 명, thing means 개.

Food: Whole Chicken and Whole Fish

A whole animal that has been cooked is still counted in 마리. The best-known case is fried chicken: 치킨 한 마리 means one whole chicken, and 치킨 반 마리 means half of one. Fish works the same way: 생선 한 마리 is one whole fish, and a restaurant may serve it on a plate as 한 마리.

Cuts of meat are different. Pork belly, beef and chicken pieces are sold by weight or by serving, so you say 삼겹살 이 인분 (two servings of pork belly), using the Sino-Korean number and the counter 인분. A good rule is: if the entire animal is on the plate, use 마리; if it has been cut into portions, use 인분 or a weight.

The same idea gives a small dialogue at a chicken restaurant.

• 직원: 치킨 몇 마리 드릴까요?
• 손님: 한 마리 주세요.

(Staff: How many chickens shall I bring? Guest: One chicken, please.)

Mistakes follow predictable patterns, so the next section collects them.

Where Do You Hear 마리 in Daily Life?

The counter 마리 turns up wherever animals are bought, fed, watched or served. Five scenes cover most of what a learner meets, and each one has a ready-made sentence you can borrow.

All five use the same skeleton: noun, number, 마리, then a verb or the copula 이에요. Once you can say one of them, you can say all of them by swapping the noun. Practise with a few animals from your own life and say how many of each you see today.

Each and Total: 씩 and 모두

Two small words extend the counter. 씩 means "each" or "at a time", and 모두 means "in total". Attach 씩 to the counted phrase: 한 마리씩 means "one animal each". Add 모두 before the phrase for a total: 모두 다섯 마리 means "five animals in all".

Add these words only when the meaning calls for them. Most sentences need only the plain pattern, and a sentence that stacks 모두, a number, 마리 and 씩 together is usually heavier than a native speaker would choose. A good habit is to say the plain count first, then add 씩 or 모두 only if a listener asks for the extra detail.

Misconceptions about 마리

Three beliefs about this counter often mislead learners, and each is easy to correct.

"마리 is only for small animals." Korean does not use size to pick counters for animals. A tiny ant and a large cow both take 마리 in conversation. What matters is that the creature is alive and not human.

"A pet is a family member, so it takes 명." Owners do speak of pets as family, but the grammar does not follow the feeling. 명 is for people, and a pet remains an animal for counting purposes. Say 강아지 한 마리, not 강아지 한 명.

"마리 and 개 are the same counter because dog is 개." The animal word and the object counter are only homophones. You choose the counter by what you are counting, not by the sound of the noun. A dog takes 마리, and a phone takes 개.

These three corrections share one idea: choose the counter by the category of the thing, not by size, feeling or sound.

Common Mistakes and Fixes

Most mistakes with 마리 are a wrong counter, a wrong number form or a wrong word order. Check each sentence against this list.

1. Using 명 for animals. Wrong: 고양이 두 명. Right: 고양이 두 마리. 명 is for people only.
2. Using Sino-Korean numbers. Wrong: 이 마리, 삼 마리. Right: 두 마리, 세 마리.
3. Using the standalone number form. Wrong: 하나 마리, 둘 마리, 스물 마리. Right: 한 마리, 두 마리, 스무 마리.
4. Putting the counter first. Wrong: 두 마리 고양이 in a plain list. Right: 고양이 두 마리.
5. Using 마리 for cuts of meat. Wrong: 고기 한 마리. Right: 고기 일 인분 (one serving of meat). Use a serving counter, as the food and drink counters explain.
6. Mixing up 개 the dog and 개 the counter. Wrong: 개 한 개. Right: 개 한 마리.

The sixth item shows why this lesson exists: the Korean word that means dog sounds exactly like the default counter.

Limitation: this lesson gives the standard pattern. Usage shifts with context: a farm report may use 두 for cattle, and a menu may sell fish by weight or by serving. Learn the standard pattern first, then notice the exceptions as you meet them.

Practice Set

Answer each item before you read the answer line.

1. Say "three birds" in Korean.
2. Say "one whole fried chicken" in Korean.
3. Ask how many cats there are.
4. What is wrong with 강아지 두 명?
5. Say "I have two dogs" in a full sentence.
6. Which is correct for one apple: 사과 한 마리 or 사과 한 개?

Answers:

1. 새 세 마리 (sae se mari).
2. 치킨 한 마리 (chikin han mari).
3. 고양이가 몇 마리 있어요? (goyangiga myeot mari isseoyo?).
4. 명 is for people. A puppy needs 마리: 강아지 두 마리.
5. 저는 개가 두 마리 있어요 (jeoneun gaega du mari isseoyo). The 개 is the animal and the 마리 shows it is counted as an animal.
6. 사과 한 개. An apple is an object.

Six of six means you are ready for the default counter.

What to Learn Next

You can now use the Korean counter mari for animals: noun, native number, then 마리. Continue in this order:

• The 개 counter, the default for objects, so the homophone trap is fully clear.
• The 명 counter for people, the other half of this subhub.
• How Korean counters work for word order, spacing and the full rule set.
• Counting People and Animals to see every page in this group.

Frequently Asked Questions