Free Korean Number Converter: Sino-Korean and Native Korean

How the Korean number converter works

There is one box, and it works both ways. Type a number in digits, such as 2026, and you see it in Korean: 2026 is 이천이십육, romanized icheonisimnyuk. Negatives take 마이너스, so -5 is 마이너스 오. Whole numbers go up to 24 digits, which reaches 해, 10 to the power of 20. Decimals are read digit by digit after 점, so 3.14 is 삼 점 일사, sam jeom ilsa. Korean writes numbers the English way, with a comma for thousands and a point for decimals, so there's nothing to switch there.

Each result sits on its own row with a Copy button. The Sino-Korean row gives the number in Hangul with the official spacing, a space after each 만 group: 12345 is 만 이천삼백사십오, and 123456789 is 일억 이천삼백사십오만 육천칠백팔십구. The Romanization row gives it in Revised Romanization, written the way it's said. The With digits row mixes digits and Korean units the way news sites and price tags do, so 12345 is 1만 2345 and 123456789 is 1억 2345만 6789.

From 1 to 99 you also get a Native Korean row, with its romanization and the form used before a counter. 21 is 스물하나, and before a counter it becomes 스물한, as in 스물한 살, 21 years old. The As won row writes the amount in words, as 만 이천삼백사십오 원, in the price-tag style, as 1만 2,345원, and in the receipt form, 일금 일만이천삼백사십오원정. The Ordinal row gives the Sino-Korean form with 제, as in 제일 and 제이십일. For 1 to 99 it adds the native forms, 첫째, 둘째, 셋째 and so on, and the forms with 번째: 첫 번째, 두 번째, 세 번째, 스물한 번째.

The converter also reads Korean back into digits. It takes Sino-Korean or native Korean in Hangul, digits with units such as 1만 2345, and receipt amounts such as 일금 일만이천삼백사십오원정. Spacing doesn't matter, and both 만 and 일만 work. It doesn't read romanization, so type the Hangul. Slips get a note. 이십하나 mixes the two systems, and the note tells you that Sino-Korean 21 is 이십일 and native Korean 21 is 스물하나. 일십, 일백 and 일천 outside a receipt get a note that 10, 100 and 1000 are 십, 백 and 천. Type an ordinal such as 제일 or 첫째 and it asks for the number on its own.

There's one limit. Korean counts things with counters, such as 개, 명, 살 and 시, and the converter doesn't list them. It doesn't work out Korean age either. It writes the numbers themselves.

Sino-Korean vs native Korean numbers

Numbers in Korean come in two sets, and you need both. Sino-Korean numbers come from Chinese: 일, 이, 삼 and so on. Native Korean numbers are Korean's own: 하나, 둘, 셋. Which one you use depends on what you're counting.

Sino-Korean covers money, dates, phone numbers, minutes, floors and every number above 99. Native Korean covers counting things, hours and age, from 1 to 99. So 3:15 is 세 시 십오 분, native for the hour and Sino-Korean for the minutes. Above 99, it's Sino-Korean even when you count things.

Don't mix the two inside one number. 이십하나 starts in Sino-Korean and ends in native Korean, and it isn't a number in either. The converter tells you which one you meant: 이십일 or 스물하나.

How to write Korean numbers from 1 to 100

Sino-Korean is the easier half. The digits are 일, 이, 삼, 사, 오, 육, 칠, 팔 and 구, and ten is 십. Everything up to 99 is built from them. 11 is 십일, ten one. 20 is 이십, two ten. 21 is 이십일, 60 is 육십 and 99 is 구십구. There are no teens and no irregular tens. Then 100 is 백. Zero is 영, though you'll hear 공 in phone numbers, and the converter reads both.

Native Korean takes more memorizing. One to ten are 하나, 둘, 셋, 넷, 다섯, 여섯, 일곱, 여덟, 아홉 and 열. Each ten has its own word too: 열, 스물, 서른, 마흔, 쉰, 예순, 일흔, 여든 and 아흔. The units follow the ten, so 16 is 열여섯, 37 is 서른일곱, 46 is 마흔여섯 and 99 is 아흔아홉. Native numbers stop at 99. From 100, Korean uses Sino-Korean.

Before a counter, five native numbers shorten. 하나 becomes 한, 둘 becomes 두, 셋 becomes 세, 넷 becomes 네 and 스물 becomes 스무. So one item is 한 개, 20 years old is 스무 살 and 21 years old is 스물한 살. 스무 is only for 20 itself. From 21 it goes back to 스물.

Korean numbers to 10,000 and beyond: 만 and 억

English groups digits in threes: thousand, million, billion. Korean groups them in fours. 10,000 has its own word, 만, and the next step is 억, 100,000,000. After that come 조 at 10 to the power of 12, 경 at 10 to the power of 16 and 해 at 10 to the power of 20.

So 100,000 is 십만, ten 만, and 1,000,000 is 백만, a hundred 만. 1,000,000,000 is 십억. 12345 is 만 이천삼백사십오, which a news site would write as 1만 2345. If you translate figures for work, count four digits from the right, not three.

One rule catches learners. 십, 백, 천 and 만 take no 일, so 10 is 십, 100 is 백, 1000 is 천 and 10,000 is plain 만. You'll also see 일만, and the converter accepts it. From 억 up, you say the 일: 일억, 일조. So 1987 is 천구백팔십칠, but 100,000,000 is 일억.

Korean numbers romanization: written as it's said

Korean sounds change where syllables meet, and the romanization follows the standard pronunciation, not the spelling. 십육, 16, is said 심뉵, so it's romanized simnyuk. 백만 is said 뱅만, baengman, and 일억 is said 이럭, ireok. 십만 is simman, 육만 is yungman and 백육 is baengnyuk. Native numbers do it too: 열여섯 is yeollyeoseot, 열넷 is yeollet and 서른일곱 is seoreunnilgop.

Some converters romanize letter by letter, so 십육 comes out as sibyuk. That matches the spelling, but it isn't what you'll hear. This one writes what a Korean speaker says. To read a number back, though, it needs Hangul, so typing simnyuk won't work.

Korean money numbers: won and receipts

Prices are Sino-Korean, followed by 원. 12,345 won is 만 이천삼백사십오 원, and on a price tag it's 1만 2,345원. The As won row gives both.

On receipts and formal documents, amounts are written out between 일금 and 원정, with 일 before 십, 백, 천 and 만 so nothing can be added to the figure afterward. 12,345 won is 일금 일만이천삼백사십오원정, and 100 won is 일금 일백원정. On a receipt, 일백 is right. The converter reads the receipt form back, and anywhere else it notes that 100 is plain 백.

Korean numbers practice

Below the converter is a practice mode that works as a Korean numbers quiz. Pick a range, and each one sticks to one system: Sino-Korean 0 to 100, Sino-Korean 100 to 10,000, Sino-Korean 만 and 억 (10,000 to 100,000,000), Native Korean 1 to 20 or Native Korean 1 to 99. It starts on Sino-Korean 0 to 100. Then pick a direction. You either see digits and type the Korean in Hangul, or read the Hangul and type the digits. Each answer is marked at once, and a running score stays on screen.

Spacing doesn't matter. An answer in the other system is marked wrong, with a note giving the right one, so 스물하나 in a Sino-Korean range shows 이십일. The counter form, such as 스물한 when you're counting, gets “Almost”, and so does 일십. If you answer in digits, it asks you to type it in Hangul. Every answer shows the romanization too. Press Stop to see your score and the numbers you missed, then “Practice my mistakes” goes through just those. Typing Hangul needs a Korean keyboard (an IME). There's no audio, so the quiz won't help with how Korean numbers sound.

If you're still learning to read Hangul, the Hangul worksheet generator prints stroke order sheets from single letters up to whole words. The Hangul block builder shows how letters stack into syllables, and the Hangul block worksheets put the same skill on paper, with an answer key.

Number converters in seven other languages

Each of these works both ways, from digits to words and from words back to digits. Each one also has money, ordinals and a practice quiz, and they're all free.

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Frequently asked questions