Word lists: animals, people, weather, colours

Open this when a noun in a book stops you. Animals, family, weather and colours, with the four Korean words where English has brother and sister.

≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

Open this when a noun in a book blocks you; the two readings at the end use only a handful of these, and they appear in the core sections too.
Twelve animals, chosen because they are the ones that turn up in fables.
Korean has no plain word for brother or sister: the word depends on who is older and on the speaker’s sex.
눈nun is snow and eye; 밤bam is night and chestnut. Short words carry two meanings and the sentence sorts it out.
When a long Korean word looks impossible, try cutting it in half.

You do not need this section to finish the lesson. Open it when a noun in a book stops you, or when you want a theme in one place. Every word the two stories use is taught in the sections along the path instead.

Twelve animals that turn up in fables

Animals do most of the talking in a fable, so these are the nouns you will meet first. Read down one column at a time.

English	Korean	English	Korean
dog	개gae	horse	말mal
cat	고양이go-yang-i	mouse	쥐jwi
bird	새sae	fox	여우yeo-u
fish	물고기mul-kko-gi	bear	곰gom
rabbit	토끼to-kki	owl	부엉이bu-eong-i
pig	돼지dwae-ji	wolf	늑대neuk-ttae

물고기mul-kko-gi“fish” is 물mul“water” plus 고기go-gi“meat”. Korean builds a great many words this way. When a long word looks impossible, try cutting it in half — and listen to the join, because the second half often goes tense.

Words for the people in a story

Family, age and friendship carry a lot of weight in Korean stories, and these are the plain words for them.

English	Korean	English	Korean
mother	어머니eo-meo-ni	person	사람sa-ram
father	아버지a-beo-ji	man	남자nam-ja
mum	엄마eom-ma	woman	여자yeo-ja
dad	아빠a-ppa	boy	소년so-nyeon
child	아이a-i	girl	소녀so-nyeo
friend	친구chin-gu	younger sibling	동생dong-saeng

엄마eom-ma and 아빠a-ppa are mum and dad, and unlike English, grown adults keep using them.

Four words where English has brother and sister

Korean has no plain word for brother or sister. Find the row for who is speaking, then the column for who they mean.

Said by	older brother	older sister
a boy	형hyeong	누나nu-na
a girl	오빠o-ppa	언니eon-ni

Anyone younger, of either sex, is 동생dong-saeng. Age matters in Korean; sex only matters upwards. And all four are used for close friends who are not relatives at all — a woman calls a slightly older male friend 오빠, so do not assume a family tree.

Weather, sky, and places a story happens in

These set the scene in almost every fable, and most are short enough to decode from the letters alone.

English	Korean	English	Korean
sun	해hae	tree	나무na-mu
moon	달dal	forest	숲sup
day	날nal	road	길gil
night	밤bam	house	집jip
sky	하늘ha-neul	door	문mun
rain	비bi	water	물mul
wind	바람ba-ram	snow	눈nun

Two of those do double duty. 눈nun is snow and also eye; 밤bam is night and also chestnut. Read the whole sentence before deciding what a short word says.

Colours, in the shape that leans on a noun

These are the shapes you meet in front of a noun, which is where colours usually turn up in a story. The note gives their other shape.

English	Korean	English	Korean
red	빨간ppal-gan	black	검은geo-meun
blue	파란pa-ran	white	하얀ha-yan
yellow	노란no-ran	brown	갈색gal-ssaek
green	초록색cho-rok-ssaek	grey	회색hoe-saek

The first six are verbs in disguise, so they also have a sentence-ending shape: 빨갛다ppal-ga-ta“is red”, 파랗다pa-ra-ta“is blue”, 검다geom-tta“is black”. The two ending in 색saek“colour” are plain nouns and keep one shape. To ask, use 무슨 색mu-seun saek“what colour”, which is worth learning whole.

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