CSAT Second Language/Hanja flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

German definite articles

Nominative: der/die/das/die. Accusative: den/die/das/die. Dative: dem/der/dem/den. Genitive: des/der/des/der. Gender and case together determine the form.

German verb-second rule

In a main clause the conjugated verb occupies position two. If a time or place phrase comes first, the subject moves after the verb: Heute arbeite ich.

German separable prefixes

Prefixes such as auf-, an-, mit-, and zu- detach and move to the end of a main clause: Ich stehe um sieben auf. In subordinate clauses they stay attached.

German kein vs. nicht

Use kein/keine/kein to negate a noun that would take ein or no article. Use nicht to negate a verb, adjective, or a noun with a definite article.

French passé composé auxiliaries

Formed with avoir or être plus a past participle. Être is used with reflexive verbs and a small motion set: aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, monter, descendre, rester, tomber, naître, mourir.

French partitive article

Du (masculine), de la (feminine), de l' (before a vowel), des (plural) express an unspecified quantity. After a negative, all become de or d'.

French adjective position

Most adjectives follow the noun: une voiture rouge. Short common adjectives precede it: beau, joli, jeune, nouveau, vieux, grand, petit, bon, mauvais, premier, dernier.

French -er verb endings

Drop -er and add -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. Example: parler gives je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent.

Spanish ser vs. estar

Ser expresses identity, origin, profession, and inherent characteristics. Estar expresses location, temporary states, and the progressive. Compare: es alto (inherently tall) versus está cansado (tired now).

Spanish stem-changing verbs

Verbs like pensar (e→ie), poder (o→ue), and pedir (e→i) change the stem in every present-tense form except nosotros and vosotros: pienso, piensas, piensa, pensamos, pensáis, piensan.

Spanish gustar construction

Gustar agrees with the thing liked, not the person: me gusta el libro, me gustan los libros. Indirect object pronouns (me, te, le, nos, les) mark the experiencer.

Spanish preterite endings

Regular -ar: -é, -aste, -ó, -amos, -asteis, -aron. Regular -er/-ir: -í, -iste, -ió, -imos, -isteis, -ieron. Example: hablé, comí, viví.

Chinese four tones

First tone is high and level (mā), second rises (má), third dips then rises (mǎ), fourth falls sharply (mà). A neutral tone is short and unstressed (ma).

Chinese aspect particles

Le marks a completed action (wǒ chī le), guò marks past experience (wǒ qù guò), and zhe marks an ongoing state (tā zhàn zhe). They replace tense endings.

Chinese measure words

A classifier is required between a number or demonstrative and a noun: yī gè rén (one person), sān běn shū (three books), zhè zhāng zhuōzi (this table).

Chinese negation bù vs. méi

Bù negates verbs and adjectives in general and habitual statements. Méi(yǒu) negates yǒu and actions that did not happen: wǒ méi qù (I didn't go).

Japanese particles wa and ga

Wa marks the topic, often information already known. Ga marks the grammatical subject, especially new or focused information and the answer to a question word: dare ga ikimasu ka.

Japanese polite verb endings

-Masu is present or future affirmative, -masen is present negative, -mashita is past affirmative, and -masen deshita is past negative. Example: tabemasu, tabemasen, tabemashita.

Japanese i- vs. na-adjectives

I-adjectives end in -i and conjugate: takai, takakunai, takakatta. Na-adjectives need na before a noun (kirei na hito) and use desu as a predicate (kirei desu).

Japanese katakana use

Katakana is a syllabary used for loanwords, foreign names, onomatopoeia, and emphasis. Example: konpyūtā (computer), Amerika (America). Hiragana handles native grammar and inflections.

Russian six cases

Nominative for subjects, genitive for possession and absence, dative for indirect objects, accusative for direct objects, instrumental for means and accompaniment, and prepositional after location prepositions.

Russian verb aspect

Imperfective verbs describe ongoing, repeated, or unfinished action (писать, читать). Perfective verbs describe a single completed action (написать, прочитать). Aspect pairs are learned together.

Russian no present 'to be'

Russian omits the copula in the present tense: Я студент means 'I am a student'. A dash often separates two nouns: Москва - столица (Moscow is the capital).

Russian prepositional case

Required after в and на for location and after о for 'about'. Endings are usually -е or -и: в Москве (in Moscow), на столе (on the table), о книге (about the book).

Arabic sun and moon letters

The article ال is written the same but pronounced differently. Sun letters assimilate the l (الشمس = ash-shams); moon letters keep it (القمر = al-qamar).

Arabic idafa possession

Possession is expressed by placing two nouns together with no word for 'of'. The second noun is definite and the first takes no article: كتاب الطالب (the student's book).

Arabic nominal sentence

A sentence of subject plus predicate needs no copula in the present: أنا طالب (I am a student). Verbal sentences begin with the verb and normally follow verb-subject-object order.

Vietnamese tone marks

Six tones: ngang (level, unmarked), huyền (falling, grave), sắc (rising, acute), hỏi (dipping-rising, hook), ngã (rising-glottal, tilde), nặng (heavy-glottal, dot below).

Vietnamese tense particles

Verbs never conjugate. Đã marks past, đang marks progressive, and sẽ marks future. Example: tôi đã học (I studied), tôi đang học (I am studying), tôi sẽ học (I will study).

Vietnamese classifiers

A classifier stands between a number and a noun and varies by noun type: một con mèo (one cat), hai cái bàn (two tables), ba quyển sách (three books).

Hanja reading and meaning

Each Hanja has a Korean reading (음) and a native meaning gloss (훈). Example: 山 is read 산 and means mountain; 水 is read 수 and means water.

Hanja 육서 categories

The six character types are pictographs (象形), simple ideographs (指事), compound ideographs (會意), phono-semantic compounds (形聲), loan characters (假借), and derivative cognates (轉注).