Hannip 한입
Open the app
Korean Grammar Patterns
12억 3456만 7898
Meaning
Big numbers go in units of 만 (10,000)
How to use it
Korean groups large numbers by 10,000 (만), not by 1,000 like English. The official spacing rule (제44항) follows: write and space numbers in units of 만 — 십이억 삼천사백오십육만 칠천팔백구십팔 = 12억 3456만 7898 (1,234,567,898). So 100,000 is 십만 (10 만), one million is 백만 (100 만), and 억 = 100,000,000. Rewiring your brain from thousands to 만-units is the single biggest hurdle for reading Korean prices and news figures.
Quick anchors: 만 = 10⁴, 억 = 10⁸, 조 = 10¹².,Prices: 1만 원 ≈ $7, 10만 원 ≈ $70 — think in 만 원 bills.
Examples
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 서울 인구는 약 940만 명이에요. seoul in-guneun yak gubaeksasimman myeong-ieyo. | Seoul's population is about 9.4 million (940 만). |
| 이 집은 3억 5000만 원이에요. i jibeun sameok ocheonman won-ieyo. | This house costs 350 million won (3억 5000만). |
한입 Hannip — learn Korean one bite a day
This entry (and hundreds more) is in the Hannip app with native pronunciation, quizzes and translations in English, 한국어, 日本語, 中文, Tiếng Việt and ไทย.
Start learning free →