I can fill out a Korean form — last and first name, citizenship, hometown, age, address from the city down to the apartment, and phone number — ask a question for each field, and choose the number system by the word after the number.
The form: fields and address
The form: fields and address
You fill out a form at a university, in a dorm, at a bank, and at the doctor's. The fields are always the same; they're in the table.
• Family name (성) and given name (이름) are separate fields. In a Korean name the family name comes first: 김민준. On a Korean form 성, your last name, also comes first.
• 국적 is the country of your passport; 고향 is the city you're from.
• 주소 goes from large to small: city 시, district 구, neighborhood 동, building number, floor, apartment. A US address goes the other way. 시 here means “city”, not “o'clock”.
Floors and apartments take Sino-Korean numbers: 3층 is 삼 층, 301호 is 삼백일 호. “What floor?” is 몇 층이에요?
Spacing on a form is the same as everywhere: a particle is attached to its word, and words are separated by spaces: 이름은, 여권 번호.
Common mistakes:
• ×12 인사동 종로구 서울시 → 서울시 종로구 인사동 12
• ×세 층 → 삼 층
• ×성: 안나 → 성: 페트로바
The form: fields
Anna's form. The last name and the first name are separate fields; Koreans put the family name first.
| Field | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 성 | last name | 페트로바 |
| 이름 | first name | 안나 |
| 국적 | passport country | 러시아 |
| 고향 | the city you're from | 모스크바 |
| 나이 | age | 스물다섯 살 |
| 주소 | address: from the city down to the apartment | 서울시 종로구 인사동 12, 3층 301호 |
| 전화번호 | phone | 010-2345-6789 |
| 여권 번호 | passport number | 72 1234567 |
The address: from largest to smallest
A US address goes the other way: 12 … Street, Apt. 301, then the city.
| Part of the address (top to bottom) | What it is |
|---|---|
| 서울시 | city |
| 종로구 | district |
| 인사동 | neighborhood |
| 12 | building number |
| 3층 | floor |
| 301호 | apartment or room |
Lesson notes
The form: fields and address
You fill out a form at a university, in a dorm, at a bank, and at the doctor's. The fields are always the same; they're in the table.
• Family name (성) and given name (이름) are separate fields. In a Korean name the family name comes first: 김민준. On a Korean form 성, your last name, also comes first.
• 국적 is the country of your passport; 고향 is the city you're from.
• 주소 goes from large to small: city 시, district 구, neighborhood 동, building number, floor, apartment. A US address goes the other way. 시 here means “city”, not “o'clock”.
Floors and apartments take Sino-Korean numbers: 3층 is 삼 층, 301호 is 삼백일 호. “What floor?” is 몇 층이에요?
Spacing on a form is the same as everywhere: a particle is attached to its word, and words are separated by spaces: 이름은, 여권 번호.
Common mistakes:
• ×12 인사동 종로구 서울시 → 서울시 종로구 인사동 12
• ×세 층 → 삼 층
• ×성: 안나 → 성: 페트로바
A question for each field, and the two number systems
Every field on a form answers a question. The question word goes where the answer will be, and the predicate goes at the end: 몇 살이에요? — 스물다섯 살이에요. English moves the question word to the front (“How old are you?”); Korean doesn't. All the question words you know are in the table.
English has one set of numbers; Korean has two, and the word after the number chooses, not the meaning:
• native Korean numbers: age, items, bottles, the hour (o'clock), “times”, animals, people, books; before the word they become 한, 두, 세, 네, 스무;
• Sino-Korean numbers: won, minutes, “number …” (삼 번), floors, apartments, dates.
See the table for the whole list.
Common mistakes:
• ×이십 살 → 스무 살
• ×두 층 → 이 층
• ×몇 층이에요 방이? → 방이 몇 층이에요?