EveryEduEnglishKorean
Not the Sum of the Words
Idioms, proverbs and four-character phrases — and when not to use them
You know 발 and you know 넓다, and you still cannot read 발이 넓다, because it does not mean wide feet. From level 5, idioms and proverbs stop being decoration: the exam asks about them and dramas, columns and conversation use them without explanation. This week does not hand you a list to memorise. It gives you two ways to read one: most Korean idioms are built on body parts, and each body part tends to point one way — the mouth to speech, the ears to being persuaded, the hands to work, the feet to connections, the liver to nerve. Four-character idioms yield to exactly the piece-by-piece method from the Sino-Korean course. Fifteen proverbs are given in full, because speakers usually say only the first half. And the last day is about restraint: a proverb that judges someone never goes upward to a senior, one per conversation is plenty, and at this level recognising what a speaker is doing with an idiom matters more than producing one.
- Lessons
- 7
- Days
- 7
- Minutes
- 110
- Quiz items
- 49
- To pass
- 80%
Curriculum
Each lesson opens when the one before it is passed at 80%.
Week 1 · Reading idioms and proverbs
- 1Phrases that are not the sum of their wordsWhy half of Korean idioms are about the body, and what each body part tends to meanRead a body-part idiom by the direction its body part usually points.
- Eyes, mouth, ears and noseSeeing, speaking and hearing — and the ones that describe being busy or embarrassedRecognise the commonest idioms built on 눈, 입, 귀 and 코.
- Hands, feet, head, belly and liverWork, connections, thinking — and the organs Korean uses for jealousy and nerveRecognise the commonest idioms built on 손, 발, 머리, 배 and 간.
- Proverbs about what follows whatWords, actions, and the consequences Korean proverbs keep warning aboutRecognise six common proverbs and name the situation each one comments on.
- Proverbs about easy, impossible, and how the world worksCold porridge, stars in the sky, whales and shrimpRecognise nine more proverbs and use two of them yourself.
- Four-character idiomsRead them piece by piece — the Sino-Korean method works here unchangedRead a four-character idiom from its pieces and recognise eight common ones.
- When to use them, and when not toRecognising is a different skill from producing — and proverbs can lectureChoose when an idiom helps and when it sounds rude, showy or out of place.
Languages this course is written in
The lessons are explained in one language. Where a translation exists your screen uses it; where it does not, you see the original rather than a blank.