Korean Percentages: 퍼센트, 프로 and Discounts

What you'll learn

• Read ten percentages aloud, from 영 퍼센트 (0%) to 백 퍼센트 (100%).
• Read a discount tag such as 30% 할인 and work out the new price.
• Read statistics and decimals such as 이 점 오 퍼센트 (2.5%).
• Choose between 퍼센트 and the casual 프로.

Prerequisites: Sino-Korean numbers 1-100. Estimated time: 20 minutes.

Korean Percentages: the Essentials

Korean percentages follow one pattern: say a Sino-Korean number, then say 퍼센트. The word 퍼센트 (peosenteu) is a loanword from English "percent", so it never changes form. It takes no plural ending and no counter, and it comes after the number. The Sino-Korean numbers are the ones built on 일, 이, 삼 and 십, so 50% is 오십 퍼센트 and not a form of the native 쉰.

The symbol % is read as 퍼센트 in every case, so 50% on a sign is spoken exactly like 오십 퍼센트. You can write the unit in Hangul or with the symbol, and both are common: 50%, 50퍼센트 and 오십 퍼센트 all mean the same thing. Notice 100%: Korean drops the 일 before 백, so the reading is 백 퍼센트, not 일백 퍼센트. The same rule makes 1,000 into 천 and 10,000 into 만, as the lessons on 1000 in Korean and 10000 in Korean explain.

To ask for a percentage, use 몇 퍼센트예요? The word 몇 means "how many", so the question is "How many percent is it?" A natural answer repeats the number: 이십 퍼센트예요 (It's 20%).

The basic pattern is simple. The next place you will meet it is a shop window, where the numbers come with a discount word.

How Do You Read Discounts?

To read a discount, say the percentage and then 할인 (harin), the word for discount. So 30% 할인 is 삼십 퍼센트 할인, and it means "30% off". The number is the amount taken off the price, not the amount you pay, which matches English "30% off".

Three small words appear on many sale signs. 최대 (choedae) means "maximum" and gives the phrase "up to". 추가 (chuga) means "extra". 반값 (ban-gap) means "half price", because 반 is "half" and 값 is "price". A shop may also say 세일 (seil), borrowed from English "sale", so 삼십 퍼센트 세일 and 삼십 퍼센트 할인 are interchangeable in speech. Asking a shop assistant about a sign is easy with the question you already know: 할인율이 몇 퍼센트예요? (What percent is the discount?). The word 할인율 means "discount rate".

Working out the New Price

To find the new price, subtract the discount from the original, then read the result with the rules from the won counter lesson. Here are two worked examples.

1. A 10,000-won item at 30% off. Thirty percent of 10,000 is 3,000. The new price is 10,000 minus 3,000, which is 7,000. You say 칠천 원.
2. A 25,000-won item at 20% off. Twenty percent of 25,000 is 5,000. The new price is 20,000, which you say 이만 원.

A full sentence from a shop might be: 원래 가격은 만 원인데 삼십 퍼센트 할인하면 칠천 원이에요. This means "The original price is 10,000 won, but with 30% off it is 7,000 won." The word 원래 means "originally" and 가격 means "price".

Korean receipts and price tags also carry a tax figure. Value-added tax (부가세) in South Korea is 10%, so a menu may say 부가세 십 퍼센트 포함, which means "10% VAT included". The word 포함 means "included". Reading it takes the same pattern: 십 퍼센트. When you can read the discount, the next skill is reading the figures that appear in news and surveys.

How Do You Read Statistics?

To read a statistic, say the group first, then the percentage, then what that group did. Korean puts the whole before the part, the reverse of English "60% of respondents". The sentence 응답자의 육십 퍼센트가 찬성했어요 means "60% of the respondents agreed". Here 응답자 (eungdapja) means "respondent", 찬성하다 means "to agree" or "to be in favour", and the particle 가 marks the percentage as the subject.

Each of these sentences ends with an everyday verb. 올랐어요 comes from 오르다 (to rise), 늘었어요 comes from 늘다 (to increase), and 줄었어요 comes from 줄다 (to decrease). The word 확률 (hwangnyul) means "probability". In weather forecasts it follows 비가 올 ("rain will come"), so the sentence answers "How likely is rain?"

A battery indicator is a good daily drill, because phones show a percentage all the time. 배터리가 십오 퍼센트 남았어요 means "15% of the battery is left". The word 남다 means "to remain", and the past form 남았어요 here tells you what is left right now.

How Do Decimals Work?

For a decimal, say the whole part, then 점 (jeom, "point"), then each digit after the point, then 퍼센트. The reading of 2.5% is 이 점 오 퍼센트, and 0.5% is 영 점 오 퍼센트. A number with two decimals reads each digit separately: 12.75% is 십이 점 칠 오 퍼센트. Do not say 칠십오 after the point, because digits after the point are read one by one.

Be careful with the word 점. It is also the counter for points and scores, as in 구십 점 (90 points). The two jobs sit in different positions: 점 between two numbers is a decimal point (이 점 오), while 점 after one number is a score (이십오 점, 25 points). A test result of 90 points is 구십 점, not 구십 퍼센트, unless the test result is explicitly given as a percentage such as 정답률 팔십 퍼센트 (a correct-answer rate of 80%).

Interest Rates and Percentage Points

Interest rates use the same pattern, with the word 이자율 (ijayul, "interest rate") or 금리 (geumni, "interest rate in banking"). A bank sign might read 연 삼 퍼센트, where 연 (yeon) means "per year", so the rate is 3% a year. The sentence 금리가 이 퍼센트에서 삼 퍼센트로 올랐어요 means "The interest rate rose from 2% to 3%". The particle 에서 marks the starting point and 로 marks the result.

When a rate moves from 2% to 3%, news reports prefer the term 퍼센트포인트 (peosenteupointeu), a "percentage point". The sentence 일 퍼센트포인트 올랐어요 means "It rose by one percentage point". The difference matters: a move from 2% to 3% is a rise of one percentage point, but it is a 50% increase in the rate itself. Reading a report correctly means noticing which one it says.

Both readings depend on the same Sino-Korean numbers you already know. A third reading, the casual one, replaces 퍼센트 with a shorter word.

When Do People Say 프로 Instead of 퍼센트?

People say 프로 (peuro) in casual speech, especially in shops and among friends. After a number it is a full replacement for 퍼센트: 삼십 프로 할인 means the same as 삼십 퍼센트 할인, and 백 프로 means "100 percent". The word is shorter, so it is quick to say at a market stall or in a chat about a deal.

Learners often hear 백 프로 as a fixed expression meaning "totally" or "for sure", as in 백 프로 믿어요 (I trust you completely). Use 퍼센트 in anything written, in presentations and with people you do not know well. Dictionaries treat 퍼센트 as the standard form, and 프로 belongs to everyday talk.

Do not add both words together. The phrase 삼십 프로 퍼센트 is wrong, because 프로 already means percent. The word 프로 can also mean "professional", so a sentence like 프로 선수 (professional player) uses it in a different way, and context keeps the meanings apart.

The reading tricks so far all come from loanwords. Korean also has an older system of units for parts of ten that still appears in baseball and in traditional markets.

Is There an Older Way to Say Percent?

Yes. The older units are 할 (hal), 푼 (pun) and 리 (ri): 1할 is 10%, 1푼 is 1% and 1리 is 0.1%. You will meet them most often in baseball, where a batting average of .325 is 삼 할 이 푼 오 리 (3할2푼5리). They are Sino-Korean units, so the numbers before them are the Sino-Korean ones you know.

Some traditional shops still use 할 on discount signs, so 삼 할 할인 can mean 30% off. Modern shops and apps use 퍼센트 almost everywhere, so treat 할 as a recognition skill. The limit of this lesson is worth stating: it covers the standard spoken readings, and the exact register of 프로 and 할 in everyday shops can vary by region and age.

Knowing these forms prevents a few typical errors, and the next section collects them.

Common Mistakes and Fixes

Most errors in Korean percentages come from using the wrong number system, mixing up 점 and 퍼센트, or writing a casual word in a formal place. Check your readings against this list.

1. Using native numbers. Wrong: 쉰 퍼센트. Right: 오십 퍼센트. Percentages always take Sino-Korean numbers.
2. Saying 일백. Wrong: 일백 퍼센트. Right: 백 퍼센트.
3. Dropping the unit. A bare 삼십 할인 is unclear. Say 삼십 퍼센트 할인.
4. Reading a discount as the price to pay. 30% 할인 means you pay 70% of the original.
5. Reading digits after a decimal point as a number. Right: 이 점 오, and for 12.75% say 십이 점 칠 오.
6. Using 프로 in a report. Write 퍼센트 for essays, slides and emails.
7. Confusing a score and a percentage. 구십 점 is 90 points. 구십 퍼센트 is 90 percent.

Expert insight: the fastest check for a percentage is the pattern number plus 퍼센트 plus the item it applies to. If you can say 오십 퍼센트 for 50%, you can say any value from 0 to 100 by adding the tens and ones you already know. For example, 87% is 팔십칠 퍼센트, built as 팔십 plus 칠.

Practice Set

Answer each item aloud before you check the answer line.

1. Read 35% aloud.
2. Read the sign 70% 할인.
3. Read 2.5% aloud.
4. How do you say "the chance of rain is 90%"?
5. What is the casual word for 퍼센트?
6. A 20,000-won item is 50% off. What is the new price in Korean?

Answers:

1. 삼십오 퍼센트.
2. 칠십 퍼센트 할인.
3. 이 점 오 퍼센트.
4. 비가 올 확률이 구십 퍼센트예요.
5. 프로.
6. 만 원 (20,000 minus 10,000 is 10,000).

Five or more correct means the pattern is secure.

What to Learn Next

You can now read Korean percentages in prices, statistics, decimals and casual talk, and you know that 퍼센트 is the safe default and 프로 the relaxed one. Continue in this order:

• Korean fractions for 이 분의 일 (1/2) and other parts of a whole.
• Korean Math Terms: Plus, Minus, Times, Divide and Equals to read calculations aloud.
• The 원 counter to read the prices that come with a discount.
• Korean shopping phrases for the sentences you say at the counter.
• Math in Korean for the whole section.

Frequently Asked Questions

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