What the heck is a Korean counter?


In English, talking about the number of things might be like this:

• There are 7 bottles of water.

After saying the number (7), there's a word to describe what is being counted (bottles). Other words might be slices of pizza or sheets of paper. There's a similar concept in Korean with counter words. 
 
Using the same example:
     
  • There are 7 bottles of water.
    We can think of it like
         ↓
  • There are 7 병* of water.
 
Using Native Korean numbers with Counters
When using counters, native Korean numbers 1 through 4 change slightly, but 5-10 are the same:
 

한 병 → "1 bottle" (not 하나 병)

두 병 → "2 bottles" (not 둘 병)

세 병 → "3 bottles"  (not 셋 병)

네 병 → "4 bottles"  (not 넷 병)

다섯 병 → "5 bottles"

여섯 병 →"6 bottles"

일곱 병 →"7 bottles"

여덟 병 →"8 bottles"

아홉 병 →"9 bottles"

열 병 →"10 bottles"

 
✔ Study Tip!  
There are lots of different counter words used in Korean such as one for animals, people, cups (of tea or whatever), books, and so on. It could get overwhelming, but here's the good news:
 
When you're asked a question about how many objects there are, the question will tell you which counter to use in the answer.
 
Example: 친구가  몇 명 있어요?
 
Breakdown:
친구(friends)
가 (subject marker to let everyone know this sentence is asking about friends) 
몇 (how many) 
명 (counter for people) 
있어(are there/do you have)
요 (being casually polite)
 
Meaning: "How many friends do you have?" 
 
Let's say you want to answer that you have 9 friends. You can repeat:
 
친구가  아홉 명 있어요.  
 
Breakdown:

친구(friends)
가 (subject marker to let everyone know this sentence is talking about friends)
아홉 (nine) 
명 (counter for people) 
있어(are there/I have)
요 (being casually polite)
 
Or the shorter version:  아홉 명 있어요.
 
Meaning: "I have 9 friends."
 

📓 Practicing Korean Counters

Here's some practice for you! Just get used to answering with the same counter as the question. 

For this practice, use the number 2 in all of your answers. Highlight over the blue blocks to check if you answered correctly. Highlight over the green box if you want to see the English meaning.

(a.) 강아지가 몇 마리 있어요?
How many puppies are there?
두 마리 있어요.

(b.) 친구가 몇 명 있어요?
How many friends do you have?
두 명 있어요.

(c.) 와인 몇 병 있어요?
How many bottles of wine are there?
두 병 있어요.

(d.) 표가 몇 장 있어요?
How many tickets are there?
두 장 있어요.

(e.) 책이 몇 관 있어요?
How many books are there?
두 관 있어요.

(f.) 사과가 몇 개 있어요?
How many apples are there?
두 개 있어요.

 

 Awesome! Let's try it in reverse like "Jeopardy". Here are the answers, what would be the question?

Example:

(a.) Clue/answer: 세 개 있어요.
What would be the questions that fits this answer?
⟶ "몇 개 있어요?"

(b.) 여셧 관 있어요.
몇 관 있어요?

(c.) 한 마리 있어요.
몇 마리 있어요?

(d.) 아홉 병 있어요.
몇 병 있어요?

 

So now that we're used to putting a counter word after the number, let's take a little look at the 6 most common counters that use Native Korean numbers and what they're used for:

  1. 개 - probably most common and used for most items.
    (apples, bags, glasses, erasers, etc.)

  2. 명 - people
    (friends, guests, speakers, etc.)

  3. 마리 - animals
    (pets, giraffes, fireflies, etc.)

  4. 장 - sheets of paper or other flat items.
    (tickets, credit cards, etc.)

  5. 권 - bound volumes
    (books, notebooks, and so on.)

  6. 병 - bottles
    (beer, wine, water...)
     
  7. 시 - hours
    (1 o'clock, 2 o'clock...)

    More details about Telling Time in Korean (hours) here.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐
 
Disclaimer: Betsy is not fluent in Korean yet, so some of this stuff could be wrong.
 
Answer key:

(a.) 강아지가 몇 마리 있어요?
How many puppies are there?
두 마리 있어요.
There are 2 "puppies". (마리 doesn't actually mean puppies, but that's the meaning here. It could also be translated as "There are 2 of them.")

(b.) 친구가 몇 명 있어요?
How many friends do you have?
두 명 있어요.
I have 2 friends. (명 doesn't actually mean puppies, but that's the meaning here.)

(c.) 와인 몇 병 있어요?
How many bottles of wine are there?
두 병 있어요.
(Amazingly, 병 actually means "bottle".)

(d.) 표가 몇 장 있어요?
How many tickets are there?
두 장 있어요.
There are 2 "tickets". (장 doesn't actually mean ticket, but that's the meaning here.)

(e.) 책이 몇 관 있어요?
How many books are there?
두 관 있어요.
There are 2 books.
(관 doesn't actually mean "book", but that's the meaning here.)

(f.) 사과가 몇 개 있어요?
How many apples are there?
두 개 있어요.
There are 2 apples.
(개 doesn't actually mean "apples", but that's the meaning here.)

 

(b.) 여셧 관 있어요.
몇 관 있어요?

(c.) 한 마리 있어요.
몇 마리 있어요?

(d.) 아홉 병 있어요.
몇 병 있어요?

 

 
 
 
  
 


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