민준이는 왜 그렇게 한국어가 서툴러?
Why is Minjun so poor at Korean?
응, 어렸을 때 미국으로 이민을 가서 거기서 쭉 살았대.
Well, he moved to the U.S. when he was young and lived there ever since.
말Korean Conversation: 말 — TOPIK 3
15 two-turn dialogues about 말, illustrating 13 words from this category at 3급. Every exchange is a 국립국어원 example with its English translation, and every word links back to its full entry.
Showing 1–15 of 15 dialogues
여기 이 칸에는 뭐라고 쓰면 돼?
What should I write in this box here?
성별을 묻는 칸이니까 ‘여’라고 쓰면 돼.
It's asking for gender, so write 'female'.
아이들은 외국에서 잘 지내고 있어?
Are the kids doing well abroad?
응. 그런데 한국말을 많이 잊어버린 거 같아서 걱정이야.
Yes, but I'm worried they might have forgotten a lot of their Korean.
네가 여기에 쓴 이 문장은 문법에 맞지 않아.
That sentence you wrote here doesn't follow the rules of grammar.
앗, 서술어가 주어랑 일치가 안 되는구나.
Oh, the predicate doesn't agree with the subject.
이 와인 병에 적혀 있는 게 무슨 뜻인지 알아?
Do you know what's written on this wine bottle?
불어 같은데 뜻은 잘 모르겠어.
It looks like French, but I don't know what it means.
이 글 좀 봐. 어쩜 이렇게 다양한 어휘를 사용해서 글을 썼을까? 아직 유치원생이라는데.
Look at this writing. How could someone use such a variety of vocabulary? And they're still in kindergarten.
정말 유치원생이 이렇게 썼단 말이야? 그 녀석 재능이 있는 아인데.
Are you saying a kindergartner actually wrote this? That kid is talented.
지난달에 일본 여행은 즐거웠니?
Did you enjoy your trip to Japan last month?
응. 그동안 일본어 공부를 열심히 했더니 일본 사람들과 대화가 통하더라.
Yeah. Since I'd been studying Japanese hard, I could actually talk with the locals.
오스트리아 사람들이 쓰는 언어가 뭔 줄 알아?
Do you know what language people in Austria speak?
오스트리아에서는 독일어를 쓰지.
They speak German in Austria.
지수야, 너 요즘 일어 학원에 다닌다며?
Jisu, I heard you've been going to Japanese classes lately.
응. 그 덕분에 일본어 실력이 부쩍 늘었어.
Yeah, thanks to that, my Japanese has improved a lot.
우리는 말할 때 딱히 어떤 토를 사용해야 할지 생각하지 않고 말하는 것 같아.
When we speak, we don't really think about which particle to use.
모국어니까 그렇지. 외국어를 공부할 때는 어떤 조사나 동사를 써야 할지 고민되잖아.
That's because it's our native language. When studying a foreign language, you worry about which particle or verb to use.
여기 문헌에 보면 이두로 작게 쓰여 있는 게 있지? 이게 토라는 거야.
See here in this document, there's something written in Idu in small letters? That's a particle.
아, 그렇구나. 한문에 이두를 사용해서 달아 놨었구나. 몰랐네.
Oh, I see. So they used Idu to annotate the Chinese text. I didn't know that.
민준아, 너 여행 간다면서?
Minjun, I heard you're going on a trip?
응, 이번 주 목, 금, 토가 휴가거든.
Yeah, I have vacation days on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week.
이 단어는 혀를 동그랗게 말았다가 떠는 소리를 내어 발음해야 해.
To pronounce this word, you have to curl your tongue and then make a flapping sound.
외국어는 정말 너무 어려워.
Foreign languages are really so hard.
선생님, 밥 먹었어?
Teacher, did you eat?
얘야, 선생님한테는 높임말로 말해야 한단다.
Child, you should speak to your teacher with respectful language.
지난달에 중국 여행은 즐거웠니?
Did you enjoy your trip to China last month?
응. 그동안 중국어 공부를 좀 해 놓았더니 조금 알아듣겠더라.
Yeah. Since I'd studied some Chinese beforehand, I could understand a little.
Showing 1–15 of 15 dialogues
다른 주제More TOPIK 3 conversations
자주 묻는 질문Common questions
How do you talk about 말 in Korean?
These 15 exchanges are the dictionary's own examples for the 13 3급 words in this category — 한국어, 여, 한국말, 문법, 불어 and the rest. Each is two turns, so what you see is not only how the word is used but what it is usually said in answer to.
Are these dialogues natural Korean?
They are written examples rather than transcribed speech, so they are tidier than a real conversation and shorter. What they are not is translated English: they were written in Korean, by Korean lexicographers, to show how the word behaves — which is why the speech levels and the sentence endings in them are worth copying.
Dialogues, translations and word meanings from the 국립국어원 한국어기초사전, used under CC BY-SA 2.0 KR.