Listening (듣기): speech level, endings and discourse markers
Listening (듣기) checks whether you can follow Korean at real speed: short exchanges, longer conversations, announcements and short talks. Items ask you to choose the appropriate response, catch a specific detail, identify the main idea, or infer what a speaker means or will do next.
Rules that decide the answer
- Speech level first. 합니다체 marks a formal or public setting, 해요체 a polite everyday one, 반말 closeness. The level tells you who is speaking to whom and eliminates options.
- The final ending carries the intent. -ㅂ시다 (let's), -(으)ㄹ까요? (shall we?), -(으)나 봐요 (seems), -잖아요 (as you know). A "what will the man do next?" item is settled by the ending, not by the topic.
- Discourse markers mark turns. 그런데/근데 shifts topic or raises a problem, 그래서/그러니까 gives a consequence, 사실은 corrects, 혹시 softens a request. Key information usually follows one of these.
- Two number systems. Native numbers with counters (두 명, 세 시, 한 개); Sino-Korean for money, minutes and phone numbers (이천 원, 삼 분).
Worked example
여자: 여보세요, 거기 한국어 학원이죠? 토요일에도 수업 있어요? 남자: 토요일은 오전 열 시부터 한 시까지만 해요. Question: 무엇에 대해 말하고 있습니까? The woman asks about Saturday classes, and the answer is a time range: 열 시부터 한 시까지. Nothing is said about location or fees, so those options fail even though they fit the word 학원. Note the native-number hours - 열 시, 한 시, not 십 시, 일 시 - and the limiting 까지만, which excludes evening classes.
Traps that cost marks
An option that repeats a heard word (수업) but answers a different question. Treating 해요체 as proof that the speakers are strangers. Missing the pivot that follows 그런데. Confusing 이 시 with 두 시. Hearing a positive verb and missing the 안 or 못 placed before it.