Learn how to use counters
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| In today’s lesson, we will go over a few useful counters or measure words. Korean uses many measure words depending on what noun is being countered. So, we got a few common ones for you today. Let’s get cracking. Let’s start by reviewing the numbers 1 to 5. 1 to 5 is 하나, 둘, 셋, 넷, 다섯 (hana, dul, set, net, daseot). And remember, when a counter is added to the end of numbers 1 to 4, the numbers change slightly in pronunciation. If you didn’t catch this last time, check out our last lesson. Restaurant 5, how many people. Now, if you remember the counter for people, it’s 명 (meyong). So one person would be 한 명 (han myeong). Two people would be 두 명 (du myeong). Let’s see if you can get three people. Ready, go! |
| Did you get it? It’s 세 명 (se myeong). All right, now if we can do people, we can do drinks and man, is it a scorcher today? Boy, do I want a nice refreshing beer. One glass of beer in Korean is 맥주 한 잔 (maekju han jan). One time slowly, it’s 맥주 한 잔 (maekju han jan). And now by syllable, 맥-주 한 잔 (maek-ju han jan). The first word of the phrase is 맥주 (maekju). This means beer. One time slowly, it’s 맥주 (maekju). Next is 한 잔 (han jan). This is the number one 한 (han) with the counter for cups or glasses, 잔 (jan). Let’s hear it again. 맥주 한 잔 (maekju han jan). Literally the phrase we have here is beer, one glass. This can be interpreted as one glass of beer. Boy, am I parched! Let’s get two more glasses of beer. Two glasses of beer would be 맥주 두 잔 (maekju du jan). One time slowly, it’s 맥주 두 잔 (maekju du jan). And by syllable, 맥-주 두 잔 (maek-ju du jan). |
| Once again we have 맥주 (maekju) or beer in front of the phrase and 두 잔 (du jan) which is two glasses. Next is, three glasses of beer. This is 맥주 세 잔 (maekju se jan). Four glasses of beer would be 맥주 네 잔 (maekju ne jan), and five glasses of beer would be 맥주 다섯 잔 (maekju daseot jan). And if you are in a restaurant, you can simply add 주세요 (juseyo) or please at the end to order these beers. To order three beers, we can say 맥주 세 잔 주세요 (maekju se jan juseyo). One time slowly, 맥주 세 잔 주세요 (maekju se jan juseyo). And by syllable, 맥-주 세 잔 주-세-요 (maek-ju se jan ju-se-yo). Literally, the phrase we have here is beer three glass please but this can be interpreted as three glasses of beer please. Now, let’s try getting a can of beer as cans don’t have their own specific counter in Korean, we can use 개 (gae) as the counter. The counter 개 (gae) is a general counter. It’s used for anything that doesn’t have its own specific counter. |
| For instance, we can count dumplings with 개 (gae), we can count toothbrushes with 개 (gae), we can count apples with 개 (gae). All of these things do not have their own specific counters. 개 (gae) will probably work around 50% of the time. So it’s hit or miss and seeing as how this is survival phrases, it will probably prove useful in most situations. All right, now to get our three cans of beer. Three cans would be 맥주 세 개 (maekju se gae). Once again, the first part of the phrase is 맥주 (maekju) which means beer. The second part of the phrase is 세 개 (se gae). This means three units or pieces. Literally this is beer three units or when translated, it’s three cans of beer. As 개 (gae) is not a specific counter, the person you are talking to will have to gather from context what 개 (gae) is referring to or you can place a word in front such as 맥주 (maekju) to specify what you are referring to. |
| Lastly, let’s try to ask for four cans of beer. This would be 맥주 네 개 (maekju ne gae). To complete this set, we have the counter for bottles as well but as it seems like we may be getting a little tipsy, let’s move on to the review. |
| Okay. To close our today’s lesson, we’d like for you to practice what you’ve learned. I will provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud. You will have a few seconds before I give you the answer. So 화이팅 (hwaiting)! |
| One glass of beer - 맥주 한 잔 (maekju han jan) |
| Two glasses of beer - 맥주 두 잔 (maekju du jan) |
| Three glasses of beer please - 맥주 세 잔 주세요 (maekju se jan juseyo). |
| Four cans of beer - 맥주 네 개 (maekju ne gae) |
| All right, that’s going to do it for today. |
Comments
Hide