Korean Job Discussion Forums

[vox]

I can't seem to get straight when to use il ee sam/hanna deul sedth even after talking to Koreans. Koreans themselves seem to be inconsistent with when to use which numbers. I'm perfectly willing to embrace my own idiocy about this but I want to get it right first!

Do you not use

hanna deul sedth for counting, and
il ee sam sa for things that have numbers as names?

Is my impression wrong about Koreans and their consistency? It seems like everybody is willing to help me out and correct me, but they often contradict one another. I'm working on getting them all in the same room and doing it at the same time to see what happens.

[Hater Depot]

They sometimes mix them up because it sounds better. For example you should say 일인분 ("for two people") but I've noticed quite a few people saying 두분.

[DaeSung]

Um... well actually I'm not sure but I think the 분 in 일인분 or 이인분 is different than 한분 or 두분. I believe the first one means portion and the second is an honorific counter for people. For the most part people are counted using the 하나 둘 셋 system followed by 사람, 명, 분, (it is funny to ask people how many children they have using the wrong counter for animals and say something like 아이들 몇 마리 있습니까?) Anyhow the first thing isn't always used with 분, it can be used with rooms for how many people will be using the room 삼인일실 3 people to one room, or for cars 오인승차 is a car that holds five people. I agree that some times people will use the wrong one but usually just to make it easier to understand the number like saying 하나/둘 instead of 일/이 in phone numbers. Saying the right number will make your Korean sound better, it's not the most important thing in the world we all know how it sounds when we hear some one say "I�m the two child" instead of saying "I�m the second child"

Keep on studying and you'll get a hang of it.