Example Sentences#

1. 현우: 맞아, 사람이 너무 많아서 지하철도 몇 번이나 그냥 지나가고, 택시도 잘 안 잡혀서 늦을 뻔했어.¹
   Hyunwoo: Yeah, there were so many people that a bunch of subways just passed by, and taxis were hard to catch, so I was almost late.
   • 번 is a bound noun meaning ‘time’ or ‘occurrence’, used to count occurrences of an event or to mark a specific instance in a sequence.
   • (이)나 is a particle that attaches to numbers or quantifiers to emphasize that the amount is greater than expected, often translated as ‘as many as’ or ‘no less than’.
2. 한 번도 본 적 없는 하늘색²
   A sky color I’ve never seen before
   • 번 is a bound noun meaning ‘time’ or ‘occurrence’, used to count occurrences of an event or to mark a specific instance in a sequence.
   • 도 is a particle meaning ‘also’ or ‘even’, adding emphasis in negative constructions.
3. 그의 첫 번째 소원은 부자가 되는 것이었습니다.³
   His first wish was to become rich.
   • 번째 is a dependent noun used to express ordinal position in a sequence. It is composed of 번, meaning ‘time’ or ‘occurrence’ and used to count occurrences of an event or to mark a specific instance in a sequence, and -째, a suffix indicating ordinal numbers, which specifies the ‘nth time’.
4. 더 멀리 가볼래, 한 번 더²
   I want to go farther, one more time
   • 번 is a bound noun meaning ‘time’ or ‘occurrence’, used to count occurrences of an event or to mark a specific instance in a sequence.