Native Korean Numbers 1-100: Full List, Tens and Combining Rules

What you'll learn

• Say and spell any native Korean number from 1 to 99.
• Combine a ten and a ones digit without a space: 스물다섯, 서른둘.
• Use 스무 for exactly 20 before a counter, and 한, 두, 세, 네 for a last digit of 1 to 4.
• Explain why 100 uses Sino-Korean 백.

Prerequisites: native Korean numbers 1-10. Estimated time: 45 minutes.

Native Korean Numbers 1-100: the Essentials

The native Korean numbers above ten are built from nine tens words and the ten words you already know. The tens do not follow one pattern, so each is a separate word to learn. After you know them, every number to 99 is only a ten plus a ones digit.

Revised Romanization (RR) is the official Latin-letter system of South Korea, shown here only as a learning aid. The memory groups split the nine words into three sets of three: 열, 스물, 서른 first, then 마흔, 쉰, 예순, then 일흔, 여든, 아흔. Learn one group per day, and say each group aloud three times before you add the next.

Every ten from 30 upward ends in the sound ㄴ, which is a useful clue. Three of them, 마흔, 일흔 and 아흔, also share the ending 흔, while 서른, 쉰, 예순 and 여든 have their own shapes.

Next, the rule that turns these tens into every number to 99.

How Do You Combine Tens and Ones?

To combine a native ten and a ones digit, write them together as one word, with the ten first: 스물 plus 다섯 gives 스물다섯 (25). There is no space inside the number and no extra word between the two parts. This is the whole rule, and it works from 11 to 99.

You will know you built a number correctly if you can split it back into a ten and a ones digit: 마흔다섯 is 마흔 and 다섯. Some combinations change sound when they are spoken. The careful form of 스물하나 keeps every sound, [스물하나], but in fast speech the ㅎ between two voiced sounds weakens, so it is often heard as [스무라나]. Treat that as a feature of casual speech, not a spelling or a rule to copy.

A second change appears when the ones digit is 여섯 or 여덟, the two words that begin with a y sound. The standard pronunciation rules (표준 발음법, Article 29) of the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) add an [ㄴ] sound between the parts, and after ㄹ it becomes [ㄹ]. So 열여섯 sounds like [열려섣], 스물여덟 like [스물려덜] and 서른여섯 like [서른녀섣]. You do not write the added sound, but you will hear it. Listen to the audio for these three examples.

Learners often try to place the Sino-Korean 일 or 이 into native numbers, as in 열일 or 스물이. These are mixed-system errors. After a native ten, the ones digit must be a native word.

Why Does 스물 Become 스무?

The ten 스물 (20) becomes 스무 when it stands alone directly before a counter, so 20 years old is 스무 살 and 20 things is 스무 개. This is the same kind of shortening that turns 하나 into 한 and 둘 into 두. It is the one special form among the tens.

The rule has two parts. First, exactly 20 uses 스무, and it keeps the long form 스물 whenever a ones digit follows. So 스물 살 is wrong, and so is 스무한 살. Second, the last digit shortens when it is 1, 2, 3 or 4, in the same way as in the 1-10 lesson: 스물한, 스물두, 스물세, 스물네. The other tens do not change: 서른 개 (30 things) and 마흔 명 (40 people) use the same word that is used for counting alone.

Here is the same table for the thirties, to show that the pattern repeats.

This is the rule behind age. The counter 살 for age takes these forms, so 스물다섯 살이에요 means "I am twenty-five". The lesson on the 살 counter uses this list for every age from 1 to 99.

What Are the Native Numbers 1-99?

The table below lists every native Korean number from 1 to 99 in rows of ten. Find the ten in the first column and the ones digit in the column heading. Each cell is the word for counting alone; use the short forms from the section above before a counter.

Use the grid as a lookup, not a list to memorise from the top. Pick a number you want, such as 74, and read it off: the row for 70 and the column +4 give 일흔넷. Before a counter, 74 becomes 일흔네, as in 일흔네 살.

The pattern also lets you work backward. If you hear 예순셋, the word 예순 tells you the row (60) and 셋 tells you the column (+3), so the number is 63.

Which Clues Help You Remember the Tens?

Use sound clues and meaning clues together, because the nine tens have no single pattern. These four clues come from the words themselves, and they help most learners in the first week.

• The ㄴ clue. Every ten from 30 upward ends in ㄴ: 서른, 마흔, 쉰, 예순, 일흔, 여든, 아흔. The first two, 열 and 스물, end in ㄹ.
• The 흔 clue. 마흔 (40), 일흔 (70) and 아흔 (90) share the ending 흔. If a ten ends in 흔, it is one of those three.
• The first-letter clue. 일흔 and 여든 begin with a vowel, and so does 아흔. The three highest tens below 100 are the three that start with 일, 여 and 아. They begin with the same three syllables as 일곱 (7), 여덟 (8) and 아홉 (9).
• The age clue. Link the tens to ages you know: 서른 for 30, 마흔 for 40, 쉰 for 50. The word 서른 often appears in phrases about turning thirty, which helps the sound stick.

The 흔 clue is the strongest, and the first-letter clue gives the order of the last three: 일흔 (70), 여든 (80), 아흔 (90) follow the same order as 일곱 (7), 여덟 (8), 아홉 (9). For a complete schedule that spreads these clues over five days, use how to memorize native Korean numbers.

How Do You Ask How Many?

To ask "how many?", put 몇 before the counter: 몇 개, 몇 명, 몇 살. The word 몇 means "how many", and the answer is a native number plus the same counter. This question is the real-life reason to learn the numbers above 10.

Here is a short exchange about a class. The teacher asks the size and the student answers with a number above 20.

• 선생님: 학생이 몇 명 있어요? (How many students are there?)
• 학생: 스물여덟 명 있어요. (There are twenty-eight.)

Notice that the answer uses the long ten 스물, followed by the ones digit 여덟 (8), and that the digit 8 does not shorten because only 1 to 4 do. Compare that with 스물네 명 (24 people), where the final 4 becomes 네.

Worked Examples: Reading Nine Numbers Aloud

Practise on nine numbers that cover every row of the grid and every kind of change. For each one, say the counting form first, then the form before a counter.

Look at the "Before a counter" column. Only the numbers ending in 1, 2, 3 or 4 change (열세, 마흔두, 예순네, 일흔세). Numbers ending in 5 to 9 stay the same, and so do the exact tens from 30 up. That gives a quick check: look at the last digit, and decide whether it is 1 to 4.

What Happens at 100?

At 100, Korean switches to the Sino-Korean 백, so 100 things is 백 개 and 100 years old is 백 살. Native numbers do not continue past 아흔아홉 in modern Korean. There was an old native word for 100, 온, and for 1,000, 즈믄, but they survive only in old writing and a few set expressions, and no one uses them for counting today.

The last row shows an exception to the "native with native counters" habit. Even though 살 normally takes native numbers, the number 100 is 백, because no native form is in use. The Sino-Korean list is on Sino-Korean numbers 1-100 if you want to compare how the two systems build their numbers.

Which Native Numbers Appear Most in Daily Life?

In daily life, the ones you meet most are the ages and the small counts: 스무 살, 서른 살, 마흔 살, and counts of 열 or 스무 people or things. The table shows common uses with the counter each one takes.

Beyond these, the tens from 쉰 up appear mainly in ages of older relatives and in counting larger groups. Learners rarely need 여든 or 아흔 in conversation, but they appear in family talk, as in 할머니는 여든 살이세요 ("My grandmother is eighty"), where the honorific 이세요 shows respect for the grandmother.

Common Mistakes and Fixes

Most errors with native numbers above ten come from the wrong form of 20, a space in the wrong place or a mixed system. Check each of these before you speak.

1. Saying 스물 살. Right: 스무 살. Exactly 20 shortens before a counter.
2. Saying 스무한 살. Right: 스물한 살. Only exactly 20 uses 스무.
3. Leaving a space inside a number. Wrong: 스물 다섯. Right: 스물다섯.
4. Saying 열일 for 11. Right: 열하나, or 열한 before a counter.
5. Mixing Sino and native. Wrong: 이십하나, 스물오. Right: 이십일 (Sino) or 스물하나 (native).
6. Using a native number for 100. Right: 백. There is no everyday native word for 100.

Limitation: this lesson gives the standard forms. Some counters take older variants, such as 석 for 3 in 석 달, and some sound changes vary by speaker. The audio shows careful standard speech.

Practice Set

Answer each item before you read the answer line.

1. Say "25 years old" in Korean.
2. Say "31 people".
3. Say "20 things".
4. How do you say 45 on its own?
5. What is wrong with 스물 살?
6. How do you say 100 things?

Answers:

1. 스물다섯 살 (seumuldaseot sal).
2. 서른한 명 (seoreunhan myeong).
3. 스무 개 (seumu gae).
4. 마흔다섯 (maheundaseot).
5. Exactly 20 becomes 스무 before a counter: 스무 살.
6. 백 개 (baek gae), with the Sino-Korean 백.

Five or more correct means you have the system.

What to Learn Next

You can now build the native Korean numbers 1-100 up to 99 and use 스무 correctly. Continue in this order:

• How to memorize native Korean numbers for a day-by-day plan that fixes the tens.
• The 살 counter to use these numbers for age.
• Sino vs native Korean numbers to decide which set a situation needs.
• Native Korean numbers 1-10 if the short forms still feel shaky.

Frequently Asked Questions

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