Earlier posts
You can check how to count in Korean from 0 to 99 from my earlier posts.
□ from 0 to 10
□ from 10 to 99
Two different ways to count cardinal numbers
As I mentioned in earlier post, there are two different ways to count cardinal numbers in Korean; one derived from native Korean and the other from Chinese characters(Sino-Korean).
However, the native Korean number system consist only from one to ninety-nine. So from 100 on, there is only one way to count numbers in Korean. (much better, isn't it?)
These are big cardinal numbers in Korean.
| Arabic | Chinese Character System (Sino-Korean System) |
| 100 | 백 (baek) |
| 1,000 | 천 (cheon) |
| 10,000 | 만 (mahn) |
| 100,000 | 십만 (shib-mahn) |
| 1,000,000 | 백만 (baek-mahn) |
| 10,000,000 | 천만 (cheon-mahn) |
| 100,000,000 | 억 (eok) |
| 1,000,000,000 | 십억 (shib-eok) |
Since Korean currency has such large denominations (a ten-thousand bill is the most commonly-used one), it's better to get used to big numbers such as 천 (a thousand), 만 (ten thousand), 십만 (hudnred thousand), etc.
Note that the grand unit word changes every 10000-fold interval from 만 (ten thousand) unlike English, in which the grand unit word changes every 1000-fold interval (ex. thousand, million, billion....)
Now, let's practice to say big numbers in Korean. Since numbers bigger than 100 are all Chinese Character driven system, you only use this system to say numbers bigger than 100.
For your information, these are the Korean numbers (derived from Chinese characters) from one to ten.
| Arabic | Chinese Character System (Sino-Korean System) |
| 1 | 일 (eel) |
| 2 | 이 (ee) |
| 3 | 삼 (sahm) |
| 4 | 사 (sah) |
| 5 | 오 (oh) |
| 6 | 육 (yook) |
| 7 | 칠 (chil) |
| 8 | 팔 (pahl) |
| 9 | 구 (goo) |
| 10 | 십 (shib) |
Examples
□ 120: 백 이십 baek eeship
□ 3400: 삼천 사백 sahmcheon sahbaek
□ 86002: 팔만 육천 이 pahlmahn yookcheon ee
Other posts
You can check more on how to count in Korean from my other posts.
□ from 0 to 10
□ from 10 to 99
□ from 100 and more