Tips! Korean has two number systems, which can confuse many learners. So first, I explained the general tendencies of how the two systems are conventionally used through examples. However, as you study Korean more deeply, you will realize that in real life there are not always strictly fixed grammatical rules for reading numbers.

In general, smaller numbers are often read using native Korean numbers(하나, 둘, 셋, 넷…) while larger numbers are often read using Sino-Korean (오십, 육십, 칠십…) For example, although ‘50 people’ involves counting people, the number is relatively large, so it is commonly read as ‘오십 명’ using Sino-Korean numbers. However, depending on the situation, some people may also read it as ’쉰 명’. Some people even mix the two systems, reading ‘54 people’ as ’오십 네 명’ combining Sino-Korean and native Korean numbers.

Then at what point can we consider a number to be “large”? Well… I can't say exactly from which number it starts, but it would be good to be able to count at least around 30(서른) in Korean numbers.