Numbers in Daily Life

🔢 Korean Numbers in Daily Life

The Magic Number Keys 🔑

Imagine you have a special treasure box. To open it, you need to know the secret number codes. In Korea, numbers are like those magic keys! They unlock everything - making phone calls to friends, knowing what day your birthday is, and buying yummy snacks!

📞 Phone Numbers: Calling Your Friends

The Story of Number Friends

Picture this: You want to call your best friend in Korea. But wait! Their phone number looks different. In Korea, people say phone numbers one digit at a time, like counting beads on a string.

Meet the Sino-Korean Numbers (0-9)

These are the numbers Koreans use for phone calls:

🎯 Real Phone Number Example

Korean phone numbers have 3 parts, like a sandwich:

010-1234-5678

Say it like this:

• 010 → 공-일-공 (gong-il-gong)
• 1234 → 일-이-삼-사 (il-i-sam-sa)
• 5678 → 오-육-칠-팔 (o-yuk-chil-pal)

💡 Fun Fact: Zero has two names! Use 공 (gong) for phone numbers. It sounds like “gone” in English!

Practice Reading These Numbers

📱 Emergency: 119 → 일-일-구 (il-il-gu)
📱 Police: 112 → 일-일-이 (il-il-i)
📱 Friend: 010-9876-5432
   → gong-il-gong, gu-pal-chil-yuk, o-sa-sam-i

📅 Dates: When Is Your Birthday?

The Story of Calendar Magic

Imagine the calendar is a big storybook. Each month is a chapter, and each day is a page. In Korea, they read the story backwards - Year first, then Month, then Day!

Months (1-12)

Months are super easy! Just add 월 (wol = month) after the number:

⚠️ Watch Out: June is 유월 (not 육월) and October is 시월 (not 십월). They changed to sound prettier!

Days of the Month

Add 일 (il = day) after the number:

• 1st → 일일 (il-il)
• 5th → 오일 (o-il)
• 15th → 십오일 (ship-o-il)
• 25th → 이십오일 (i-ship-o-il)

🎂 Complete Date Example

December 25th, 2024

In Korean order: 2024년 12월 25일

Say it: 이천이십사년 십이월 이십오일 (i-cheon-i-ship-sa-nyeon ship-i-wol i-ship-o-il)

Breaking it down:

• 2024 = 이천이십사 (2000 + 20 + 4)
• 년 = year
• 12 = 십이 (10 + 2)
• 월 = month
• 25 = 이십오 (20 + 5)
• 일 = day

Quick Date Vocabulary

오늘 = today (o-neul)
내일 = tomorrow (nae-il)
어제 = yesterday (eo-je)
생일 = birthday (saeng-il)

💰 Money and Prices: Shopping Time!

The Story of Korean Won

In Korea, money is called 원 (won). Think of 원 like coins in a video game - you collect them to buy things! Korean prices look big but don’t worry - 1000원 is only about $1!

Counting Money

Korean money uses these numbers:

🍦 Real Shopping Examples

Ice cream: 2,500원

• 이천오백원 (i-cheon-o-baek-won)
• = 2,000 + 500 won

Lunch: 8,000원

• 팔천원 (pal-cheon-won)
• = 8,000 won

New shoes: 55,000원

• 오만오천원 (o-man-o-cheon-won)
• = 50,000 + 5,000 won

Phone: 1,200,000원

• 백이십만원 (baek-i-ship-man-won)
• = 1,200,000 won

Building Big Numbers

Think of it like building blocks:

graph TD
    A["만 = 10,000"] --> B["이만 = 20,000"]
    A --> C["삼만 = 30,000"]
    B --> D["이만오천 = 25,000"]

Shopping Phrases

💳 At the Register

Scenario: Buying a coffee for 4,500원

You: 이거 얼마예요? (How much is this?)
Staff: 사천오백원이에요. (It's 4,500 won.)
You: 여기요! (Here you go!) *pays*
Staff: 감사합니다! (Thank you!)

🎮 Quick Number Practice

Phone Number Challenge

Read this number: 010-3847-2956

Answer: gong-il-gong, sam-pal-sa-chil, i-gu-o-yuk

Date Challenge

Say this date: March 14th

Answer: 삼월 십사일 (sam-wol ship-sa-il)

Price Challenge

How do you say 17,500원?

Answer: 만칠천오백원 (man-chil-cheon-o-baek-won)

🌟 Remember This!

1. Phone Numbers: Say each digit separately using 공,일,이,삼,사,오,육,칠,팔,구
2. Dates: Korea uses Year → Month → Day order
3. Money: Build prices using 만(10,000), 천(1,000), 백(100)

You now hold the magic number keys! 🗝️ Use them to unlock real Korean conversations!