Korean has two sets of numbers: Sino-Korean (일, 이, 삼…) for minutes, dates, money and phone numbers, and native Korean (하나, 둘, 셋…) for counting things and for the hour. Numbers come before a counter word, and 하나/둘/셋/넷 shorten to 한/두/세/네 in front of it.
Examples
- 지금 두 시 삼십 분이에요.
- It's 2:30 now.
- 커피 세 잔 주세요.
- Three coffees, please.
- 오늘은 오월 십일이에요.
- Today is May 10th.
The mistake to avoid
Saying 이 시 for "2 o'clock" - the hour always uses native numbers (두 시), even though the minutes use Sino-Korean.
Where this fits in
숫자, 요일, 시간, Korean A1: Count with Sino-Korean numbers, name the days, tell the time, and talk about parts of the day.