A second story, with the help hidden

Read Tika and the Tree with the answers hidden. Every word is one you have met. Try to follow the scene, then open each answer to check your reading.

≈ 3 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

The pronunciation and the English begin hidden. Aim for the scene, not a perfect translation.
The narration is in the past; the speech inside the quotation marks is not, and wears 요.
우리 집u-ri jip is “our house” and means “my house” — Korean says “we” where English says “my”.
The last line is the moral, and it does not announce itself as one.

Every word here is a word you have met — the animals are Tika the bird and Dara the fox. Speech just wears spoken clothes: 슬프다seul-peu-da“is sad” turns up as 슬퍼요seul-peo-yo.

Tika and the tree

Read each line aloud, say what you think happened, then reveal.

옛날 옛적에 숲에 큰 나무가 있었다. 그 나무에 작은 새가 살았다.
The opening formula — and 그 is doing the job of “the”.
Show answer +Hide answer −
yen-nal yet-jjeo-ge su-pe keun na-mu-ga i-sseot-tta. geu na-mu-e ja-geun sae-ga sa-rat-tta — “Once upon a time there was a big tree in the forest. A small bird lived in that tree.”
새 이름은 티카였다. 티카는 노란 새였다.
The glued is-word, twice, in the past.
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sae i-reu-meun ti-ka-yeot-tta. ti-ka-neun no-ran sae-yeot-tta — “The bird’s name was Tika. Tika was a yellow bird.”
어느 날 바람이 불었다. 그리고 큰 나무가 넘어졌다. 티카는 슬펐다.
바람ba-ram is the wind — and every verb here is in the past.
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eo-neu nal ba-ra-mi bu-reot-tta. geu-ri-go keun na-mu-ga neo-meo-jeot-tta. ti-ka-neun seul-peot-tta — “One day the wind blew. And the big tree fell over. Tika was sad.”
그때 여우 다라가 티카를 보았다. “왜 슬퍼요?” 하고 다라가 물었다.
The quote is spoken to a person, so it wears 요.
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geu-ttae yeo-u da-ra-ga ti-ka-reul bo-at-tta. wae seul-peo-yo, ha-go da-ra-ga mu-reot-tta — “Then Dara the fox saw Tika. ‘Why are you sad?’ asked Dara.”
“내 나무가 넘어졌어요.” 하고 티카가 대답했다. 다라가 말했다. “우리 집에 가요. 내 집은 작아요. 하지만 좋은 집이에요.”
The spoken past inside the quote, the book past outside. 우리 says “our” and means “my”.
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nae na-mu-ga neo-meo-jeo-sseo-yo, ha-go ti-ka-ga dae-da-paet-tta. da-ra-ga mal-haet-tta. u-ri ji-be ga-yo. nae ji-beun ja-ga-yo. ha-ji-man jo-eun ji-bi-e-yo — “‘My tree fell over,’ answered Tika. Dara said: ‘Come to my house. My house is small. But it is a good house.’”
그리고 티카는 다라와 갔다. 작은 친구가 좋은 친구다.
The second sentence is the moral, and it does not say so.
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geu-ri-go ti-ka-neun da-ra-wa gat-tta. ja-geun chin-gu-ga jo-eun chin-gu-da — “And Tika went with Dara. A small friend is a good friend.”

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