Learn Korean Numbers, Colors, Days & Months: Native vs Sino-Korean in 79 Flashcards

Korean has two complete number systems, and most beginners stall because they learn both lists but never learn which one to reach for. Deck TN9890 – Korean Numbers, Colors, Days & Months (79 cards) gives you both systems side by side, plus colours, weekdays, months and a rare bonus: the native words for counting days.

What the 79 cards contain

• Native Korean numbers: 하나, 둘, 셋, 넷, 다섯, 여섯, 일곱, 여덟, 아홉, 열, then 열하나–열다섯 and the tens 스물, 서른, 마흔, 쉰, 예순, 일흔, 여든, 아흔
• Sino-Korean numbers: 영/공, 일, 이, 삼, 사, 오, 육, 칠, 팔, 구, 십, 이십, plus 백, 천, 만, 억
• Day durations: 하루, 이틀, 사흘, 나흘, 닷새, 엿새, 이레, 열흘
• Colours: 빨강, 파랑, 노랑, 초록, 검정, 하양, 주황, 보라, 분홍, 갈색, 회색
• Weekdays 월요일 → 일요일 and months 일월 → 십이월

Sample cards

Tip 1 – Tag every number card with its job

Don't drill "native vs Sino" as an abstract pair. Add a hint with the context each system owns:

• Native: counting objects, hours (세 시 = 3 o'clock), age (스무 살 = 20 years old). Native numbers stop at 99.
• Sino-Korean: minutes (삼십 분), dates and months, money, phone numbers (where 0 is 공), floors, anything above 99.

Then learn the shortened forms that appear before counters, which the deck doesn't show: 하나 → 한, 둘 → 두, 셋 → 세, 넷 → 네, 스물 → 스무. You'll say 한 시 and 두 개 far more often than 하나 or 둘. Write these five as extra cards.

The deck only covers Sino 1–10 and 20. Since the system is fully regular (삼십 = 3×10, 십오 = 10+5), add 3–4 cards like 십일, 삼십, 구십구 to prove you can build them rather than memorising a list.

Tip 2 – Read the weekdays as elements

The days of the week aren't random syllables: 월 moon, 화 fire, 수 water, 목 wood, 금 metal/gold, 토 earth, 일 sun. Learn the seven hanja once and the weekday cards become trivial — and you get vocabulary for free (수 also appears in 수영, swimming). Months are simpler still: Sino number + 월. Just flag the two irregulars, 유월 (not 육월) and 시월 (not 십월).

For colours, note that 빨강, 파랑, 노랑, 하양 and 검정 are nouns. Before another noun you'll hear 빨간 차 (a red car) or 빨간색. The other colours are hanja nouns (초록색, 회색) and simply take 색.

Study order

1. Sino 1–10 (one session), then native 1–10.
2. Hours + minutes drill: read 3:30 as 세 시 삼십 분.
3. Native tens and day durations.
4. Weekdays via the elements, months, colours.

Next, put the numbers to work with counters and particles in our Korean grammar study guide, or count your favourite idols' comebacks with K-pop and K-drama vocabulary.

Get the deck: search code TN9890 (Korean Numbers, Colors, Days & Months) in the library at flip-it.app.