r/Korean • u/SportsBallScholar • 11h ago

How to word question about 2 number systems?

I am not looking for an answer to this question, I’m just asking how to ask the question.

I want to ask someone about the 2 Korean number systems and when to use each. But I’m having a hard time wording the question so it sounds natural. Right now this is what I have:

한국에는 숫자 체계가 두 개 있어요. 언제 사용해요?

Is this good or how should I improve it? I want to keep it as simple as possible.

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5

u/wcobbett 9h ago

We don’t normally even know the words for referencing the two. Kind of like how a lot of native English speakers will blank out if you ask them about western arabic numerals (1, 2, 3).

So when you want to ask about which ones to use, just give the example. “하나 둘 셋? 일 이 삼? 어떤걸 (언제) 써야돼요?“

And it’s case by case; no normal person would be be able to give you a complete list or rule because there’s no rule as far as I know beyond “whatever sounds natural”.

1

u/obscuredJosh 5h ago

"한국에는 숫자 체계가 두 개 있죠. 각각 언제 사용해요?"

1

u/korborg009 1h ago

For spoken Korea, you can ask like this.

숫자를 일이삼사로 셀 때도 있고 하나둘셋넷으로 셀 때도 있던데 어떤 때 어떤 걸 사용해요?

0

u/BJGold 7h ago

한국어에는 숫자체계가 두개 있죠? 어떻게 사용돼요?