4 · 40 words

Family life

In-laws, birth order, childcare and housework: how a Korean family is organised and talked about.

Korean names family relations far more precisely than English. “Mother-in-law” is 시어머니 to a wife and 장모 to a husband, and a married woman calls her husband’s family home 시댁 and her own parents’ home 친정. Birth order matters too: 맏이, 장남, 장녀 carry an expectation that English “eldest” does not. The other half of the list is how a household works today — 맞벌이, 육아, 가사 — and the value underneath much of it, 효도, care and respect for one’s parents.

The words

Verb (5)

부양하다to support (a family financially)Verb4

그는 혼자서 부모님과 동생들을 부양하고 있어요.He supports his parents and younger siblings on his own.

독립하다to become independent; to leave homeVerb4

대학을 졸업하고 부모님 집에서 독립했어요.After graduating from university, I moved out of my parents’ home.

임신하다to become pregnant; to be pregnantVerb4

아내가 임신해서 요즘 술을 끊었어요.My wife is pregnant, so I have given up drinking for now.

재혼하다to remarryVerb4

삼촌은 이혼한 지 오 년 만에 재혼했어요.My uncle remarried five years after his divorce.

입양하다to adopt (a child)Verb4

그 부부는 두 아이를 입양해서 키우고 있어요.The couple adopted two children and are bringing them up.

This list belongs to People and feelings — twelve lists and 477 words that can also be practised as a whole.

Practise this list

Multiple choice and gaps, drawn from exactly these 40 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.