- one – hana (pronounced like ‘hanna’)
- two – dul (pronounced like ‘dool’)
- three – set
- four – net
- five – dasot (pronounced like ‘dah-sott’)
- six – yosot (pronounced like ‘yoh-sott’)
- seven – ilgop (pronounced like ‘eel-gopp’)
- eight – yodol (pronounced like ‘yoh-doll’)
- nine – ahop (pronounced like ‘ah-hopp’)
- ten – yol (pronounced like ‘yoll’)
Watch and listen to the following video for the correct pronunciations of the Korean numbers 1 to 10.
You will hear Korean numbers very often in a Taekwondo class – they are used for counting movements of forms, or counting techniques in line-work. Korean numbers are some of the first Korean language terms that you will need to learn when you start training in Taekwondo. It’s quite likely that you will be tested on your knowledge of Korean numbers at your first Taekwondo grading.
If you want to learn higher numbers in Korean, it’s a good idea to learn how to read and pronounce hangul – the written form of the Korean language. It’s difficult to accurately represent the sounds of Korean using English letters, thus to learn Korean properly it’s better to start by learning hangul. You can learn basic hangul here.
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If you'd like to learn more about the Korean terminology used in Taekwondo, consider buying this book: Taekwondo Terminology. It contains an extensive dictionary of terms used in Taekwondo, as well as explanations on how to pronounce Korean words, and aspects of Korean grammar.
