Personal Identity and Family: Talking About Yourself and Your People
What this domain tests
Questions here ask you to describe who you are, your family structure, relationships, and the values that shape your identity. You need vocabulary for family members (친할머니 vs 외할머니, 형/오빠/누나/언니 depending on the speaker's gender and the referent's gender), honorific forms when talking about elders, and register control (합쇼체 for formal writing, 해요체 for polite conversation, 반말 only among close peers). Understand kinship terms precisely: the same person is called 오빠 by a younger sister and 형 by a younger brother, and these change when the speaker is female.
Concepts to master
- Honorific suffix -시- and special verbs (계시다, 드시다, 잡수시다, 돌아가시다) when the subject is an elder.
- Humble forms for yourself and in-laws (저, 우리, 뵙다, 여쭙다).
- Generational change: nuclearisation, later marriage, declining birth rate, and shifting attitudes to filial duty (효).
- Identity language: 이민자, 다문화 가정, 재외동포, and respectful terms rather than outdated labels.
Traps
- Confusing 우리 with 저희: 우리 is fine among peers; 저희 is the humble form before elders or in formal writing.
- Answering a 'describe your family' prompt with a list of names and no reflection on values, which caps the mark.
- Mixing 반말 into a formal response. Check the ending of every sentence, not just the first.
- Assuming all Korean families are the same; questions often reward acknowledging diversity (single-parent, multicultural, grandparent-led).
Worked rule of thumb
When asked to introduce your family, use a three-part structure: state the members (우리 가족은 네 명입니다), describe one member with an honorific and a reason (할머니께서는 요리를 잘하셔서…), then reflect on what the family means to you. This satisfies content, grammar range, and depth simultaneously.