Korean Short Story : 산책, taking a walk

여러분 안녕하세요! 🙂 Today I’m coming to you for another reading practice for beginners. We continue following Lina’s story, and today she’s going on a walk in a park near her place after eating dinner.

The story has a little more complicated vocabulary and grammar for some parts, but is overall still relatively easy. Don’t hesitate to check the vocabulary while reading to make sure you understand well!

In this article, you will find : 

• A reading practice in Korean
• A translation of the text
• A youtube video of this reading practice
• A vocabulary list
• A short explanation of the most difficult grammar parts
• Two questions to review your understanding of the text

Table of Contents

Korean Reading Practice

산책

LINA :
저녁을 너무 많이 먹었어요. 산책을 하면서 소화를 시켜야겠어요
날씨가 시원해요. 산책하기 좋은 날씨예요.
벤치에 앉아서 잠시 쉴거예요.

LINA – 어! 강아지다!
안녕? 길을 잃은거니?

VOICE – 비누야!
한참 찾았잖아! 이 말썽쟁이야
안녕하세요. 비누때문에 놀라셨죠? 죄송해요

LINA – 아니에요. 강아지가 너무 귀여워요.
GIRL – 감사합니다. 3살짜리 푸들이에요. 산책을 할때마다 자꾸 도망쳐요.
LINA – 그렇군요. 아주 힘들겠어요. 만져봐도 되나요?
GIRL – 그럼요.
LINA – 푸들은 똑똑하다고 들었어요.
GIRL – 맞아요. 하지만 가끔 너무 똑똑해서 힘들어요
LINA – 저도 강아지를 키우고 싶어요! 강아지랑 재미있게 놀고싶어요.
GIRL – 강아지와 놀고싶으면 강아지카페에 가보세요!
LINA – 강아지카페가 뭐예요?
GIRL – 강아지카페는 강아지와 놀 수 있는 카페예요. 카페처럼 커피도 마실 수 있어요. 강아지에게 간식을 줄 수도 있어요. 같이 사진도 찍을 수 있어요.
LINA – 와! 정말 재미있을 것 같아요. 저희나라에는 강아지카페가 없거든요
GIRL – 그래요? 어느나라에서 왔어요?
LINA – 저는 프랑스에서 왔어요.
GIRL – 그렇군요! 전 해외여행을 해 본 적이 없어요. 한국에 온지는 얼마나 됐어요?
LINA – 얼마전에 한국에 왔어요. 어학당에서 한국어를 배우고있어요.
GIRL – 얼마전에요 ? 그런데 한국어를 정말 잘 하시네요!
LINA – 감사합니다. 열심히 공부하고 있어요.
GIRL – 응원할게요. 다음에 또 봐요.
LINA – 네, 안녕히 가세요. 비누도 잘 가요.

LINA :
강아지 카페에 언젠가 가보면 좋겠어요.
나미 씨는 강아지 카페에 가봤을까요? 언제 물어봐야겠어요.
나중에 네이버 지도에서 검색해 볼게요.
새로운 사람들을 만나는 건 좋아요. 항상 새로운 것을 배우게 돼요.

Vocabulary

Grammar points

-때문에

Meaning : Because of
Usage : This grammar point is used to indicate the reason or cause behind an action or situation. It translates to “because of” or “due to” in English.

Example in the text: 비누 때문에 놀라셨죠? (You were surprised because of Binu, right?)

-해 본 적이 있다 / 없다

Meaning: “have experienced” or “have not experienced”
Usage: This construction is used to express whether someone has had the experience of doing something or not. The verb stem is followed by -해 본 적이 있다 (have experienced) or -해 본 적이 없다 (have not experienced).

Example in the text: 전 해외여행을 해 본 적이 없어요. (I have never traveled abroad.)

ㄴ/은 지 됐다

Meaning: It has been.. since..
Usage: This expression indicates that a certain amount of time has passed since a particular event or condition started. This is used with the verb stem, and it is followed by -ㄴ/은 지 (depending on whether the verb stem ends in a vowel or consonant) and then the time period. The verb is typically in its past form.

Example in the text: 한국에 온 지 얼마 됐어요? (How long has it been since you came to Korea?)
(Possible answer : 한국에 온 지 6개월 됐어요)

-지요, -죠?

Meaning: Isn’t it? / Right?
Usage: These endings are used to seek confirmation or agreement from the listener. They are often used to ask for or confirm information that the speaker believes the listener already knows. The verb or adjective stem is followed by -지요 or the contracted form -죠. It is a versatile ending that can make statements softer, ask for agreement, or confirm something.

Example in the text: 비누 때문에 놀라셨죠? (You were surprised because of Binu, right?)

-잖아(요)

Meaning: You know, Don’t you know
Usage: This ending is used to remind the listener of something they should already know or to justify the speaker’s statement, often adding emphasis or correcting a misunderstanding. The verb or adjective stem is followed by -잖아 (for informal speech) or -잖아요 (for polite speech).

Example in the text: 한참 찾았잖아! (I’ve been looking for you for a while, you know!)

Other Texts For Beginners

• Korean Reading Practice : My School [2]
• Korean Short Story : Korean Restaurant
• Korean Reading Practice : A New Friend

Study Method for Texts

If you’re not familiar with text study, here’s a method I would suggest you try.

Since we’ve recently started making YouTube videos for each reading practice we post, I would suggest you watch the video to study the text.
The video is divided as follows :

1. Korean voice only, with pictures to help the understanding
2. Korean subtitles + translation
3. Questions about the text
4. Additional notes

By following the video first, you’ll get a good grasp of the text. Then, you can come back here and study it from here.