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*All verbs below are in original form(dictionary form).

존재하다 : to exist

선언하다 : to declare, proclaim

목격하다 : to witness

제안하다 : to suggest

조언하다 : to advise

개입하다 : to intervene

헌신하다 : to devote

축하하다 : to congratulate

환영하다 : to welcome

접근하다 : to approach

투자하다 : to invest

개선하다 : to improve

응원하다 : to cheer, support

설명하다 : to explain

오해하다 : to misunderstand, misconceive

해결하다 : to resolve

조절하다 : to adjust

계획하다 : to plan

보호하다 : to protect

조사하다 : to investigate

확인하다 : to check, verify, confirm

출발하다 : to depart, set off, start

도착하다 : to arrive, reach

설득하다 : to persuade

양보하다 : to yield, give way

희생하다 : to sacrifice

쟁취하다 : to achieve, win

야기하다 : to cause, bring about

실수하다 : to make a mistake

긍정하다 : to affirm

부정하다 : to deny

생산하다 : to produce

소비하다 : to consume, spend

인정하다 : to admit

소유하다 : to own, possess

봉사하다 : to serve, do volunteer work

유지하다 : to maintain

보조하다 : to assist

인용하다 : to quote, cite

대표하다 : to represent

선택하다 : to choose, select

거절하다 : to reject, refuse

촉진하다 : to promote, accelerate, boost

요구하다 : to demand, ask

사과하다 : to apologize

추측하다 : to guess, suppose

간섭하다 : to interfere

낭독하다 : to read aloud

관찰하다 : to observe

추구하다 : to pursue, seek

Written and edited by Admin Yu

눈 : snow

첫눈 : first snow of the winter

눈송이 / 눈꽃 : snowflake

결정 : crystal

서리 : frost

함박눈 : big snowflakes

진눈깨비 : sleet

눈보라 : blizzard

우박 : hail

폭설 : heavy snow

만년설 : perpetual snow

설경 : snow scenery

눈사람 : snowman

눈덩이 : snowball

눈싸움 : snowball fight

눈이 내리다 : to snow

얼다 : to freeze

녹다 : to melt, to thaw

하얗다 : white

새하얗다 : pure white

희다 : white

차갑다 : cold

춥다 : cold (weather)

(손이/귀가/코가) 시리다 : (hand/ear/nose is) cold

펑펑 : (adverb) shape of snow falling heavily (ex. 함박눈이 펑펑 내린다)

펄펄 : (adverb) shape of snow or powder blowing in the wind (ex. 흰 눈이 펄펄 내린다)

소복소복 : (adverb) shape of things piled up (ex. 길에 눈이 소복소복 쌓여 있다)

뽀드득 : (adverb) sound of stepping on a pile of snow

It’s snowing heavily in Korea!

-Written and edited by Admin Yu

Hi! This is Admin Yu. Today’s post will be on the academic grading system of high schools in Korea. I’m a Korean high school student so this topic is something I’m very familiar with.

9등급제 (9-rank system)

9등급제(9-rank system) is the academic grading system of high schools in Korea. The 9-rank system is a relative evaluation system. Students are given ranks from 1(1등급, Rank 1) to 9(9등급, Rank 9) based on students’ relative standing among all others who took the same class that semester.

In one semester, students take two big exams, 중간고사(midterm exam) and 기말고사(final exam), and do 수행평가(performance evaluation) for the classes they are taking. At the end of the semester, the scores of the two exams and performance evaluations are added up for the final score out of 100. Then the ranks are given out based on this score.

Top 4% of students are given 1등급(Rank 1), the next 7% 2등급, the next 12% 3등급, the next 17% 4등급, the next 20% 5등급, the next 17% 6등급, the next 12% 7등급, the next 7% 8등급, the next 4% 9등급. For example, if there are 100 students who take chemistry, the top 4 students will get Rank 1, the next 7 will get Rank 2, and so on.

등급컷(컷 is ‘cut’) refers to the minimum score that can get the rank. For example, if the 1등급컷 for chemistry was 95, the students who got 95 or over get Rank 1, and if the 2등급컷 was 90, students who got score below 95 but over 90 get Rank 2. ‘등급’ is often omitted, so you can say 1등급컷 or just 1컷.

You can see many students asking the teacher for 1컷 after exam is over. Although the real ranks are given by the final score, the exams are often regarded as the most decisive factors. So knowing the 1컷 of the exam score can give you a rough idea of your current position among other peers. 등급컷 of the exam can also tell us about the difficulty of the exam. If the 1컷 is very low, the exam can be regarded as very difficult.

Since only a few can get high ranks, a single mistake can sometimes be critical. Especially if the exam was easy. In schools where education fever is high, if the exam was too easy and too many students got 100, one mistake can drop your rank drastically. And if the number of students who got 100 exceeds the number of students who can get Rank 1, the ranking may start from Rank 2 or even 3. So it’s important to find the balance of difficulty of exams. If the midterm exam was too easy, the final exam is expected to be very hard to meet the difficulty balance.

The same 9-rank system applies to 수능(Korean SAT) as well. Students are given ranks relatively like the 9-rank system in high schools. However, to differentiate the scores, other things like standard score/Z score are used to evaluate the student. For example, 100 and 92 may be the same Rank 1 but their standard score would be different.

I hope this post helped you understand the grading system of high schools in Korea!

-Written and edited by Admin Yu

Hi! This is Admin Yu. Today’s grammar lesson will be on passive voice in Korean.

1. Passive Suffix

Passive verbs can be made by using passive suffixes -이/히/리/기-

• 보다(to see) → 보이다(to be seen)
• 묻다(to bury) → 묻히다(to be buried)
• 물다(to bite) → 물리다(to be bitten)
• 쫓다(to chase) → 쫓기다(to be chased)

The stem(어간) of passive verb includes the passive suffix! So when you conjugate the verb, you don’t have to change the suffix since stem is the part that doesn’t change.

경찰이 도둑을 잡다(The police catch a thief) → 도둑이 경찰에게 잡히다(A thief be caught by the police)
경찰이 도둑을 잡았다(The police caught a thief) → 도둑이 경찰에게 잡히었다/잡혔다(A thief was caught by the police)
바다가 보이는 방(room where sea can be seen = room with sea view)
산에 묻힌 보물(treasure buried in the mountain)

2. –어지다

‘-어지다’ can make passive voice.

• 만들다(to make) → 만들어지다(to be made)
• 이루다(to accomplish) → 이루어지다(to be accomplished)
• 지우다(to erase) → 지워지다(to be erased)
• 뒤집다(to turn over) → 뒤집어지다(to be turned over)

내 꿈이 이루어졌다(My dream came true)
지워진 기록(erased record)

3. -되다, -당하다

Noun + ‘-되다, -당하다’ can make passive voice.

• 결정(decision) → 결정되다(to be decided)
• 발견(discovery) → 발견되다(to be discovered)
• 가공(processing) → 가공되다(to be processed)
• 감염(infection) → 감염되다(to be infected)
• 계획(plan) → 계획되다(to be planned)
• 취소(cancel) → 취소되다(to be canceled)

대통령이 당선되었다(The president was elected)
파티가 취소되었다(The party was canceled)

• 고문(torture) → 고문당하다(to be tortured)
• 무시(ignorance) → 무시당하다(to be ignored)

그 아이는 부모에게 무시당했다(The child was ignored by his parents)

I hope this grammar lesson helped!

-Written and edited by Admin Yu

Here are some nouns and verbs that are used together or go well together!

*All verbs below are in original form(dictionary form)

한숨을 쉬다 : to sigh

한숨 : ⓝ sigh

소원을 빌다 : to make a wish

소원을 이루다 : to make a wish come true

소원 :  ⓝ wish

약속을 지키다 : to keep a promise

약속을 어기다 : to break a promise

약속 :  ⓝ promise

전화를 걸다 : to make a phone call

전화를 받다 : to pick up the phone

전화를 끊다 : to hang up

전화 :  ⓝ telephone

마법을 걸다 : to cast a spell(magic)

마법 :  ⓝ magic

소리를 지르다 : to scream

소리 :  ⓝ sound

노래를 부르다 : to sing

노래 :  ⓝ song

대가를 치르다 : to pay the price

대가 :  ⓝ cost, price

시험을 보다 : to take a test

시험 :  ⓝ test

코를 골다 : to snore

코 :  ⓝ nose

신발을 신다 : to put on shoes

양말을 신다 : to put on socks

신발 :  ⓝ shoes

양말 :  ⓝ socks

책을 펴다 : to open a book

책 :  ⓝ book

꿈을 꾸다 : to dream

꿈 :  ⓝ dream

싸움을 걸다 : to pick a fight

싸움을 말리다 : to break up a fight

싸움 :  ⓝ fight

-Written and edited by Admin Yu