ABSTRACT
In Korean, there are two parallel sets of numbers. One of these was borrowed from Chinese long ago and is now part of the Korean number system. The numbers belonging to this set are called Sino-Korean numbers. The other set is of native origin. The numbers belonging to this set are called native Korean numbers. The use of Sino-Korean numbers and native Korean numbers differ in some key ways. First, the native Korean numbers for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 20 have slightly modified forms. Koreans use these modified forms when using a “counter.” Second, Koreans use native Korean numbers when counting a small number of objects. Sino-Korean and native Korean numbers differ in their formation of ordinals. English is very specific with respect to number, and multiple items must be marked by “s.” Korean nouns, on the other hand, are not strict about marking number.
