The
Korean language
Korean is the first language, native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Koreans, Korean descent. It is the national language of both South Korea and North Korea. In the south, the language is known as () and in the north, it is kn ...
uses special
measure words or
counting words for specific objects and events.
These suffixes are called ''subullyusa'' () in Korean. They are similar to the ones employed in the
Chinese and the
Japanese language
is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese dia ...
s.
In English it is "two sheets of paper", not "two papers". Analogously, in Korean ''jang'' () is used to count
sheets or anything that is a paper-like material, for example:
In fact, the meanings of counter words are frequently extended in metaphorical or other image-based ways. For instance, in addition to counting simply sheets of paper, ''jang'' in Korean can be used to refer to any number of thin, paper-like objects. Leaves (''namunnip'' 나뭇잎) are counted using this count word. In this way, a particular count word may be used generally in a very open-ended manner and up to the construal or creativity of the speaker.
There are two systems of
numerals in Korean: native Korean and
Sino-Korean. Native Korean numerals are used with most counter words, and usually count the number of an object, while Sino-Korean numerals are generally used for indicating a specific object in series, such as a specific lesson in a book, as well as monetary units and scientific measurements. Sometimes both types of numerals may be used, usually native Korean numerals indicating a quantity and Sino-Korean numerals indicating an ordinal. For example:
There are exceptions, such as native Korean numbers being used with , meaning "hour of the day". Additionally some counters (mostly those associated with traditional units) modify the pronunciation and spelling of the numerals that precede it, most notably 6월 is and 10월 is .
List of count words
Some count words take native Korean numerals:
Some count words take Sino-Korean numerals:
Some nouns can also function as counter words. Nouns that were already listed are not included:
Some words are used for counting in multiples:
See also
*
Measure word
*
Classifier (linguistics)
A classifier (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated or ) is a word or affix that accompanies nouns and can be considered to "classify" a noun depending on some characteristics (e.g. humanness, animacy, sex, shape, social status) of its ref ...
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Korean Count Word
Korean language
Parts of speech
ko:수분류사#한국어의 수분류사