Korean Traditional Market Vocabulary: Words and Examples

Korean Traditional Market Vocabulary at a Glance

A trip to a market has a clear order, and the list follows it. You greet the seller, look at what is for sale, ask the price, buy a snack on the way, and tell the seller how much you want. That is why the groups run from people and places, to goods, to bargaining and prices, to street snacks, and last to weights and amounts. The page sits inside Shopping and next to the Korean Convenience Store Vocabulary page, which covers the shop with fixed prices.

Nearly all the words are nouns. Two kinds behave differently: 깎다 is a verb that every bargainer needs, and 근, 봉지, 줌, 상자 and 바구니 are measure words that follow a native number, as in 한 봉지 (one bag). The next section ranks the words by how soon you will need them.

Which Traditional Market Words Should You Learn First?

Learn 시장 (market), 사장님 (boss; a polite title for a seller), 이모 (aunt; a friendly title for a woman who runs a food stall), 가격 (price) and 주세요 patterns with 봉지 (bag) first. With those you can get a seller's attention, ask for something and say how much you want.

• Words to say. 사장님, 이모, 떡볶이, 순대, 호떡, 봉지, 한 줌. These are what you call out and order.
• Words to recognise. 가격, 현금, 거스름돈, 무게. You hear these during payment.
• Words to understand when spoken. 덤 and 깎다. The seller may offer a 덤, a small free extra, and you may hear about 깎다, lowering the price.

At five new words a day, the list takes six days plus review. Start with the first two groups, because you need them in the first minute at a stall.

The price question is the one you will use most. Ask 이거 얼마예요? (How much is this?) and listen for a number. The page on 얼마 and how much explains the question word, and Money and Prices teaches how to say the answer. The scene below puts eight of the 30 words on one market lane.

Word · 8

1. 1

   전통시장

   Play

   jeontongsijang

   traditional market

2. 2

   사장님

   Play

   sajangnim

   boss; shop owner (title)

3. 3

   채소

   Play

   chaeso

   vegetables

4. 4

   생선

   Play

   saengseon

   fish (as food)

5. 5

   떡볶이

   Play

   tteokbokki

   tteokbokki (spicy stir-fried rice cakes)

6. 6

   봉지

   Play

   bongji

   bag (of food); plastic bag

7. 7

   바구니

   Play

   baguni

   basket

8. 8

   무게

   Play

   muge

   weight

How Do You Talk to People at a Traditional Market?

Titles matter more than names at a market. Sellers are rarely addressed by name, so you use a role word. 사장님 (sajangnim) literally means company president, but customers use it for the owner of any shop or stall, whether the seller is a man or a woman. 이모 (imo) literally means maternal aunt, and customers use it warmly for women who run food stalls and small restaurants. Many learners notice that this sounds like a family word. It is. Korean often borrows family words to make a stranger feel close, and you will hear the same habit in taxis, cafes and small restaurants.

The choice depends on the stall. At a vegetable or clothes stall, 사장님 is the safe choice. At a snack stall, 이모 is common, but 사장님 is always polite. Avoid pointing at someone and saying 아줌마 (middle-aged woman) because it can sound rude when it is aimed at a person.

Sellers call customers 손님 (sonnim), the customer or guest, and you will hear it when a seller calls out to people walking past. If you reply with a clear item and quantity, the exchange is fast. The next sections give you the nouns for both.

People and Places

The first group covers the place and the three people you meet. 시장 is a market of any kind, and 전통시장 adds the idea of a long-established market with many small stalls. 상인 is the plain word for a merchant, while 사장님 and 이모 are the titles used to address one.

Two different words share the spelling 시장: the market and the mayor. They come from different Chinese characters, so Korean readers rely on context, and nobody will confuse them at a market stall.

When you address a seller, put the title first and the request second: 사장님, 이거 주세요. The pattern is title + comma + request, and it sounds natural and polite.

Once you can address a seller, the next step is to name what is on the stall.

Goods at the Market

Markets are known for fresh produce and traditional foods. 채소, 과일 and 생선 are the three big categories, and 나물, 젓갈 and 떡 are three foods that you will see in almost every traditional market. Each one also appears on a Korean dinner table, so you may already know the taste.

Look at how the verb changes with the food. You buy (사다) vegetables, eat (먹다) rice cake and season (무치다) greens with your hands. A short list of such pairs is worth keeping: 사요, 먹어요 and 무쳐요 are all polite present forms.

The counter 마리 counts animals, including fish, so one fish is 한 마리 and two fish are 두 마리. The page on counting people and animals explains the counter in detail.

You know the goods, so the next question is the price.

Bargaining and Prices

The third group is about money. 가격 is the plain word for price, 흥정 is bargaining, and 깎다 is the verb that you use to ask for a lower price. 덤 is a small free extra. 현금 and 거스름돈 finish the exchange: you pay in cash, and the seller gives you change.

Bargaining in a traditional market is softer than many visitors expect. A stall may have a fixed price, and a polite request for a small discount or a 덤 can be more natural than a hard counter-offer. Practice varies by stall and by season, so watch what others do before you ask.

The sentence 조금만 깎아 주세요 has three useful parts. 조금만 means just a little, 깎아 is the verb in its -아/어 form, and 주세요 turns it into a polite request. You can swap the verb to make other requests, such as 봉지에 담아 주세요 (please put it in a bag).

You now have the words for paying. The most popular part of a market visit comes next, the snacks.

Street Snacks

Many traditional markets have a row of food stalls. The six foods in this group are the ones you find on most menu boards. They are all nouns that you can say alone with 주세요 to order, so they are easy first words to try aloud.

A plate of food is usually ordered with a counter: 한 접시 (one plate) or 일 인분 (one portion). With 주세요 the order is complete. The page on tteokbokki in Korean gives more on the best-known item. The foods 호떡 and 떡 share a syllable, but 호떡 is a pancake made from a wheat-based dough, not a rice cake.

The last thing you need is the way to say how much you want.

Weights and Amounts

At a market, you buy by the bag, the handful or the box, not only by the item. These six words are measure words, and they follow a native Korean number: 한 봉지 (one bag), 두 상자 (two boxes). 무게 is the word for weight, and you hear it when the seller puts something on the scale.

Units give the market its character, but they are also where mistakes happen. A 근 is not the same weight for all goods. Traditionally, a 근 of meat is about 600 grams, and a 근 of fruit and vegetables is about 400 grams. Since shops are expected to sell by metric weight, many sellers now say kilograms or grams instead, so ask 몇 그램이에요? (How many grams is it?) if you are unsure.

The verb 달다 appears twice in this list in different senses. 무게를 달아요 uses it as to weigh, and 호떡이 달아요 uses it as to be sweet. Both forms are 달아요, and only context tells you which one you heard.

How Do You Buy Something at a Market Stall?

A purchase at a market follows one pattern: item + number + measure word + 주세요. Say what you want first, then how much, then the polite ending. The chart shows the pattern with words from this page.

Here is a short conversation that uses the pattern from start to finish.

• 손님: 사장님, 이거 얼마예요? (Boss, how much is this?)
• 상인: 한 봉지에 오천 원이에요. (It is 5,000 won a bag.)
• 손님: 조금만 깎아 주세요. (Please lower it a little.)
• 상인: 그럼 사천오백 원 주세요. (Then give me 4,500 won.)
• 손님: 네, 현금으로 내요. (Yes, I pay in cash.)

Read the dialogue twice, once as the customer and once as the seller. For more ready-made lines, see the shopping phrases page.

How Do You Pronounce These Words?

Market words contain several sound changes, because many end in a consonant that changes before the next sound. Standard pronunciation follows the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) rules. The romanization follows the Revised Romanization of Korean, which writes tense letters such as kk and tt but does not show tensing caused by a neighbouring sound.

The tense sounds in 떡볶이, 젓갈 and 깎다 are the ones learners most often miss. Say the tense sound with a tight throat and no puff of breath. The page on tensification explains why a stop sound makes the next consonant tense.

Audio and Slow Playback

Every word and every example sentence has its own clip. The five clips below replay the trickiest words slowly. Play one, repeat it aloud, then play it again and compare.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make with Traditional Market Words?

These five mistakes cause most of the confusion at a market stall.

1. Calling a seller by name. Sellers are addressed by role. Use 사장님 or 이모, not a first name.
2. Using 아줌마 to call a seller. The word means a middle-aged woman and can sound blunt when you call someone with it. 이모 or 사장님 is warmer.
3. Forgetting the measure word. Say 사과 한 상자, not 사과 하나 상자. The number goes before the measure word, and 하나 shortens to 한.
4. Expecting every stall to bargain. Some stalls have fixed prices. Ask for a 덤 or a small discount politely, and accept a no.
5. Mixing the two 달다. 무게를 달아요 means I weigh it, and 호떡이 달아요 means the hotteok is sweet. The spelling and the form are identical.

Learning the titles and the measure words removes most of the risk.

Practice: Flashcards and Worksheet

Study in three steps. First, run the flashcard deck in recognition mode until you recognise each of the 30 words. Second, switch to listening mode. Third, take the quiz. The deck covers all 30 words with audio, and your progress stays in your browser. The vocabulary flashcard decks page lists the other decks.

A printable worksheet for these words (word list, matching, writing practice, fill-in-the-blank exercises and answer key) is available in A4 and US Letter from the download card on this page. For practice, copy the 30 words by hand and write the meaning beside each one. Then write two sentences of your own, such as 시장에서 과일을 사요 (I buy fruit at the market).

Where to Go Next

After this page, continue with Korean Convenience Store Vocabulary, or go back up to Shopping. For the single word, see traditional market in Korean. To practise the lines you need, open the shopping phrases.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Say Traditional Market in Korean?

A traditional market is 전통시장 (jeontongsijang). The plain word for a market is 시장 (sijang), and you say 시장에 가요 for I go to the market. For the single-word lookup with a pronunciation guide, see the page on traditional market in Korean.

What Do You Call a Seller at a Korean Market?

Use a title, not a name. 사장님 (sajangnim) is the safe, polite choice for any seller, and 이모 (imo), literally aunt, is a warm title for a woman who runs a food stall. The plain word for a merchant is 상인 (sangin), but it is used about sellers rather than to them.

How Do You Ask for a Lower Price in Korean?

Say 조금만 깎아 주세요 (jogeumman kkakka juseyo), which means please lower it a little. 깎다 is the verb for cutting a price, and 주세요 turns it into a polite request. A 덤, a small free extra, is another polite thing to ask for.

How Do You Pronounce 떡볶이 (tteokbokki)?

Say tteok-ppo-kki, as in [떡뽀끼]. The ㄸ, the ㅃ and the ㄲ are all tense sounds, said with a tight throat and no puff of breath. The official romanization is tteokbokki, and other spellings, such as tteokpokki, appear on menus. Press the audio button on this page for the normal and slow versions.

Is the Romanization on This Page Official?

It follows the Revised Romanization of Korean, which South Korea adopted on 7 July 2000 and whose rules the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) publishes. It is a learning aid and does not show every sound change, so rely on the Hangul and the audio.

Is There a Printable Worksheet for Traditional Market Words?

A printable worksheet for these words (word list, matching, writing practice, fill-in-the-blank exercises and answer key) is available in A4 and US Letter from the download card on this page. For practice, copy the tables on this page by hand or use the flashcard deck, which carries the same 30 words.

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