1 · 40 words

Studying Korean

The classroom, the things on the desk, and the words for learning a language.

These are the words of a Korean class, from the first lesson on. 한국어 is the name of the language and 한국말 the everyday way of saying it; 한글 is the alphabet, not the language. A teacher is always addressed as 선생님, never by name alone, and the same word is the polite way to address a doctor.

The words

Verb (6)

공부하다to studyVerb1

매일 한 시간씩 한국어를 공부해요.I study Korean for an hour every day.

외우다to learn by heart, to memoriseVerb1

단어를 외우는 게 어려워요.Memorising words is hard.

틀리다to be wrong; to make a mistakeVerb1

답이 틀렸어요.The answer is wrong.

The past form is used for something wrong now: 틀렸어요, “it is wrong”.

맞다to be right, correctVerb1

네, 그 답이 맞아요.Yes, that answer is right.

잘하다to be good atVerb1

민수 씨는 영어를 잘해요.Minsu is good at English.

못하다to be bad atVerb1

저는 노래를 정말 못해요.I am really bad at singing.

Written as one word it means “to be bad at”; 못 해요, with a space, is “I cannot do it”.

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 40 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.