Like Chinese and Japanese, Korean uses special measure or counting words to count objects and events, which in Korean are called subullyusa (Hangeul:???? / Hanja: ????).
In English, one must say, "two sheets of paper" rather than "two papers". In Korean, the term jang (?/?) is used to count sheets, or paper-like material in general. So "ten bus tickets" would be beoseu pyo yeol jang (?? ? ? ? / ?? ? ? ?), literally, "bus ticket ten 'sheets'". In fact, the meanings of counter words are frequently extended in metaphorical or other image-based ways. For instance, in addition to counting simply sheets of paper, jang in Korean can be used to refer to any number of thin, paper-like objects. Leaves (namunnip ???) are counted using this count word. In this way, a particular count word may be used generally in a very open-ended manner and up to the construal or creativity of the speaker.
There are two systems of numerals in Korean: native Korean and Sino-Korean. Native Korean numerals are used with most counter words. yeol gwa (? ? / ? ?) would mean 'ten lessons' while sip gwa (??/??) would mean 'lesson ten.' Sino-Korean numerals are used with many (but not all, particularly si (?/?), meaning "hour") time counters.
Video Korean count word
Examples
Some counter words taking Native Korean numerals:
- gae (?/?) -- 'things' in general, often used as a coverall when the specific count word is unknown, for example by children.
- beol (?) -- items of clothing
- bun (?) -- people (honorific)
- cheok (?/?) -- boats and ships
- chae (?) -- houses
- dabal (??) -- bunches of flowers or plants
- dae (?/?) -- vehicles (cars, airplanes) and machinery (incl. computers)
- dan (?) -- bunches of Welsh onions, green onions; a column (in a newspaper)
- dong (?/?) -- buildings
- geuru (??) -- trees, shrubs
- gwa (?/?) -- lessons (if paired with Sino-Korean numeral, lesson number)
- gwon (?/?) -- books
- jang (?/?) -- paper
- jaru (??) -- things with long handles (writing instruments, shovels, swords, and rifles), and by extension knives and pistols
- jul (?) -- literal meaning: line. things aligned in a row (gimbap, desks, chairs)
- kyeolle (??) -- gloves and socks (pairs)
- mari (??) -- animals
- mun (?/?) -- cannons, big guns
- myeong (?/?) -- people (informal)
- pil (?/?) -- uncut fabric, horses, cows
- pogi (??) -- Chinese cabbages
- pun (?) -- pennies
- sal (?) -- years
- song-i (??) -- picked flowers, bunches of fruit (grapes, bananas, &c.)
- su (?) -- poems
- tol (?) -- grains of rice (not cooked), stones
- tong (?/?) -- letters, telegrams, telephone calls, and e-mail
- tong (?) -- watermelons
- jeom (?) -- paintings , sliced or ripped off flesh , small amount of something (cloud, wind)
Some counter words taking Sino-Korean numerals:
- nyeon (?/?) -- year (for dates; 2014?, 1998?)
- wol (?/?) -- month (for dates; ??: January, ??: February, ...)
- il (?/?) -- day (for dates)
- gwa (?/?) -- lesson number
- won (?) -- Won
- hagnyeon (??/??) -- school year, grade level (2??: Sophomore, 2nd Grade)
- jeom (?/?) -- grade (100?)
Some nouns can also function as counter words:
- byeong (?/?) -- bottles
- cheung (?/?) -- floors (of a building), layers
- geureut (??) -- bowls
- gok (?/?) -- songs
- jan (?/?) -- cups and glasses
- madi (??) -- phrases, joints, musical measures, words
- sangja (??) -- boxes
- saram (??) -- people (informal)
- tong (?/?) -- containers, buckets
Some words are used for counting in multiples:
- bari (??) -- 2,000 fish
- chuk (?) -- 20 cuttlefish
- jeop (?) -- 100 fruits (for example, dried persimmons), radishes, cabbages, or bulbs of garlic
- ko (?) -- twenty dried pollock
- pan (?/?) -- thirty eggs
- son (?) -- handfuls of fish (2 large, 4-5 small), typically mackerels or yellow croaker
- daseu/taseu (??/??) -- dozen (an abbreviated form of the English)
- tot (?) -- one hundred sheets of laver
- uri (??) -- 2,000 tiles
Maps Korean count word
See also
- List of Korea-related topics
- Measure word
- Classifier (linguistics)
- ko:????
References
- Martin, Samuel E. A Reference Grammar of Korean. Tuttle Publishing, 2006.
Source of article : Wikipedia