2 · 39 words

School life

Years and terms, classmates and lockers, revising and resits.

A Korean school year starts in March and has two terms, 학기, with the long holidays, 방학, in summer and winter. Pupils are named after their school — 초등학생, 중학생, 고등학생 — and a class is 반, so a classmate is a 반 친구. Two verbs come as a pair: 복습하다 is going over what was learnt, 예습하다 preparing what comes next — English has “revise” for the first and no single word for the second. And an exam is not taken but “seen”: 시험을 보다.

The words

Verb (6)

빠지다to miss; to skip (a class)Verb2

감기 때문에 수업에 빠졌어요.I missed class because of a cold.

연습하다to practiseVerb2

매일 발음을 연습해요.I practise pronunciation every day.

복습하다to revise; to go over (what was learnt)Verb2

집에 가서 오늘 배운 것을 복습해요.When I get home I go over what I learnt today.

예습하다to prepare (a lesson) in advanceVerb2

수업 전에 새 단어를 예습해요.I look at the new words before the class.

채점하다to mark (a test)Verb2

선생님이 시험지를 채점하셨어요.The teacher marked the papers.

맞히다to get (an answer) rightVerb2

열 문제 중에서 아홉 개를 맞혔어요.I got nine out of ten right.

Not the same as 맞추다, to fit or to match, although the two are often mixed up.

This list belongs to School, university and research — five lists and 200 words that can also be practised as a whole.

Practise this list

Multiple choice and gaps, drawn from exactly these 39 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.