Korean Counter Cheung (층): How to Say Floors in Korean

What you'll learn

• Name any floor from 지하 이 층 to 이십 층 with 층 and Sino-Korean numbers.
• Ask and answer 몇 층이에요? in an elevator or hotel.
• Say a building's height with 층짜리 and words such as 고층 and 옥상.
• Separate floor names, room numbers (호) and counted floors.
• Explain why some buildings label the fourth floor F.
• Prerequisites: Sino-Korean numbers 1-20. Estimated time: 20 minutes.

Korean Counter Cheung: the Essentials

The Korean counter cheung (층) is the Sino-Korean word for "floor" or "storey", written with the Chinese character 層 (layer). It follows a Sino-Korean number to name a level of a building: 일 층 (the ground floor), 이 층 (the next floor up), 삼 층 (the floor above that). A counter, also called a unit noun (단위 명사), is a short word placed after a number.

Three details help every learner. First, the ground floor is 일 층, so Korean floor numbers match American numbering: Korea's 이 층 is the American second floor and the British first floor. Second, 지하 (地下, "underground") comes before the number, as in 지하 일 층, and it is not a counter. Third, the word 지상 ("above ground") exists for the part of a building above the street, as in 지상 이십 층, 지하 삼 층, which gives the full size of a building in one phrase.

The numbers inside 층 never change shape, which makes it one of the easiest counters. Before you build sentences, look at how it differs from the native numbers.

Which Number System Does 층 Take?

층 takes Sino-Korean numbers when it names a floor, without exception. The reason is that a floor number is a label, a position in a stack, and Sino-Korean numbers are the series Koreans use to label and order things. Native numbers count objects you can hold, such as sheets of paper.

This is the same label-versus-count split described in Sino vs native Korean numbers. Sino-Korean numbers form compound floors in the usual way: 십일 층 (11th), 이십이 층 (22nd), and so on. The full series is drilled in Sino-Korean numbers 1-100.

There is one real exception to be aware of. When you count how many floors you move, speakers often use native numbers because they are counting steps, not naming a level: 한 층 올라가세요 ("go up one floor"), 두 층 내려가세요 ("go down two floors"). The floor you arrive on is still named in Sino-Korean numbers: 삼 층에 내리세요 ("get off on the third floor").

Expert insight: if you cannot decide, ask yourself if you are naming a place or counting a distance. A named floor is Sino-Korean, and the number of floors between two levels may be native. This is one of the few places where a single counter works with both number systems.

How Do You Use 층 in a Sentence?

To use 층 in a sentence, put the Sino-Korean number and 층 before a particle or a verb, such as 에 (at), 으로 (to) or 이에요 (is). Floors work like place names, so the particle tells the listener whether you mean "on" or "to".

• 화장실은 이 층에 있어요. "The toilet is on the second floor."
• 식당은 지하 일 층이에요. "The restaurant is on the first basement floor."
• 일 층으로 내려가세요. "Please go down to the ground floor."
• 저는 오 층에서 내려요. "I get off on the fifth floor."

The verbs 올라가다 ("to go up") and 내려가다 ("to go down") carry the direction. Use 으로 with them, since 으로 marks a direction or goal, and use 에 when you say where something is. The topic particle 은 or 는 after the place often introduces the sentence: 화장실은 이 층에 있어요.

Written with digits, the counter usually attaches to the number: 3층, 지하 1층. Hangul spelling (한글 맞춤법, Article 43) writes the counter apart from a Hangul number (삼 층), and a digit may be followed by the counter without a space. Both forms appear on signs. The next step is the question that goes with every elevator ride.

How Do You Ask Which Floor?

Ask 몇 층이에요? to ask which floor something is on, and 몇 층 가세요? to ask which floor someone wants. 몇 is the question word "how many", and in this pattern it means "which number". The answer repeats the floor: 삼 층이에요.

Notice the last question. 몇 층이에요? can ask which floor or how tall a building is, and the context settles it. To ask only about height, use 층짜리 (the suffix 짜리 means "consisting of"), as in 이십 층짜리 건물 ("a twenty-storey building"). Here 층 counts storeys, and the floor and the building height use the same Sino-Korean numbers.

The pronunciation of 몇 층 is [멷층], with the final ㅊ of 몇 pronounced as [ㄷ]. In the elevator, 칠 층이요 adds the polite particle 요 to the bare answer, which is short and natural.

Elevator Phrases

Elevators have a short, repeated vocabulary, and floors fit into it. The most important phrases are asking for a floor, pressing a button and getting off.

The verb 누르다 means "to press", and the request pattern -아/어 주세요 adds "please do it for me". A short elevator exchange puts these together:

The pattern -아/어 드릴게요 means "I will do it for you" and is more respectful than 줄게요. Many speakers say it automatically when they are near the buttons.

What Does 층 Not Count?

층 names floors and counts storeys, but it does not name rooms or count other kinds of layers in the same way. Several neighbouring words look similar and are easy to mix up.

A hotel room number combines the floor with a room index: 오백일 호 is room 501 on the fifth floor, and 천이백삼 호 is room 1203 on the twelfth. Room numbers are often read digit by digit instead, as in 오공일 호 (5-0-1), where 공 is the spoken zero. Both are heard; the digit form is shorter on the phone. A big apartment complex adds 동 (building) before 호: 삼 동 사백일 호 means building 3, unit 401. The sequence "number + 번" uses the 번 counter, which takes Sino-Korean numbers for numbered items (2번, number 2) but native numbers for occasions (두 번, twice). Digits are used for 동 and 번 on signs because 이 동 and 이 번 can also mean "this building" and "this time".

층 also appears inside words that describe buildings:

Compounds like 이층집 are normally written without a space, as one word, while the plain floor name 이 층 is spaced.

Why Do Some Buildings Skip the Fourth Floor?

Some buildings in Korea label the fourth floor F, or skip it, because the Sino-Korean number 사 (four) sounds like 死 (death). The habit is similar to skipping 13 in other countries. It is not universal, and many elevators still show 4 in the usual place.

Where it happens, you see one of three solutions:

• F for four. The button reads F, and people say 에프 층 or just 사 층.
• Skipped. The numbering goes 3, 5, and the fourth level is unmarked.
• Normal. The elevator shows 4 and people use it without comment.

The situation shows how number words carry cultural weight. The number 사 is avoided in some other settings too, although the extent varies by person and place. This lesson treats it as a cultural note, not a rule of grammar: the counter 층 still follows the normal pattern. When you do meet a missing fourth floor, count by the numbers on the buttons, not by the floors you pass.

Two Short Conversations

At a department store. A shopper asks where to find things, and the clerk answers with floors.

Every floor here is Sino-Korean: 삼 층, 지하 일 층. The words 옥상 and 엘리베이터 give the extra vocabulary. The verb 팔다 means "to sell", so 팔아요 is its polite present form.

At a hotel desk. A guest asks about the room.

The clerk gives the floor (십이 층) and the room (천이백삼 호) together, and the hotel pattern shown in Korean hotel vocabulary uses the same pair. The floor tells you which button to press, and the room number tells you which door to find.

Worked Example: a Visit to a Building

A learner describes a trip to a clinic in four sentences.

1. 병원은 이십 층짜리 건물에 있어요. "The clinic is in a twenty-storey building."
2. 병원은 십이 층이에요. "The clinic is on the twelfth floor."
3. 지하 이 층에 주차했어요. "I parked on the second basement floor."
4. 엘리베이터로 두 층 올라가서 일 층에서 갈아탔어요. "I went up two floors by elevator and changed lifts at the ground floor."

The checkpoint: sentence 1 uses 층짜리 for height, sentences 2 and 3 name floors with Sino-Korean numbers, and sentence 4 counts a distance with the native 두 층 (from 지하 이 층 to 일 층 is two floors, because there is no floor zero) and then names a floor with 일 층. If any of these felt like a different rule, the mistakes below will clear it up.

Common Mistakes and Fixes

• 세 층 → 삼 층. A floor name takes a Sino-Korean number.
• 영 층 for the ground floor → 일 층. The ground floor is the first floor.
• 일 층 지하 → 지하 일 층. 지하 comes before the number.
• 십일 층 for the roof → 옥상. The roof is not a numbered floor.
• 사 층 skipped in a building → check the buttons. Some buildings use F or skip the label.
• 삼 층 building for a three-storey building → 삼 층짜리 건물. Use 짜리 for the height of the building.

Learners often assume that Korean floor numbers match their home country's system. Actually Korean numbering starts the ground floor at 일 층, so it matches the American system. For a visitor from the UK, every Korean floor number is one higher than the British one: the British first floor is the Korean 이 층. The practice set checks these points.

Practice Set

Say each answer aloud, then check below.

1. "the third floor"
2. "the first basement floor"
3. "Which floor is it on?"
4. "the ground floor"
5. "a twelve-storey building"
6. Fix the error: 세 층에 있어요.
7. "Please press five."

Answers: 1. 삼 층. 2. 지하 일 층. 3. 몇 층이에요? 4. 일 층. 5. 십이 층짜리 건물. 6. 삼 층에 있어요. 7. 오 층 눌러 주세요.

If item 2 tripped you, return to the floor table; if item 6 did, reread the number-system section.

What This Lesson Does Not Cover

This lesson covers naming floors with 층. It does not teach ordinal numbers such as 첫째, the vocabulary of rooms and buildings in full, or the 호, 동 and 번 patterns in detail. The note on the fourth floor describes a cultural habit, not a rule of grammar, and its reach differs between buildings and generations. The usage described here is standard Seoul Korean.

What to Learn Next

Continue with the 번 counter, which names numbered items with Sino-Korean numbers and counts occasions with native numbers. For hotel words beyond floors, read Korean hotel vocabulary, and for money in the lifts-and-shops setting, see the 원 counter. The Counting Times and Floors section groups floors with the occasion counter. With the Korean counter cheung in place, any floor in any building is within reach.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I say ground floor in Korean? Say 일 층, because Korean counts the ground floor as the first floor. The floor above is 이 층, so a Korean 이 층 is the first floor in British usage and the second floor in American usage. Floors below the ground are 지하 일 층 and 지하 이 층, and the lobby is 로비.

Is it 세 층 or 삼 층? Say 삼 층. 층 takes Sino-Korean numbers when it names a floor, so 세 층 is an error. Speakers do say native numbers when they count how many floors they move, as in 한 층 올라가세요 ("go up one floor"), but the floor itself is always named with a Sino-Korean number.

What is 옥상? 옥상 (屋上) means the roof or rooftop of a building, often an open area where people hang laundry, grow plants or have a garden. It is not a numbered floor, so you do not say 십일 층 for it. Elevator panels often mark it 옥상 or R, and a building's top floor is 최상층.

How do I ask for the third floor? In an elevator, say 삼 층 눌러 주세요, which means "Please press three." To ask where something is, say 삼 층이에요 or 삼 층에 있어요 ("It is on the third floor"). To ask which floor someone wants, say 몇 층 가세요?

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