Korean Sentence Dictation A2: Practice Set with Answer Key

What you will learn

• Write ten A2 sentences from audio, with at least eight fully correct.
• Spell the past endings 았어요 and 었어요, including the double ㅆ in 있었어요.
• Space 갈 거예요 correctly and explain why.
• Turn a heard sound change back into its written form.

Before you start: finish the Korean Sentence Dictation for Beginners set and know the basics of the Korean past tense. Time: about 25 minutes with audio.

Key Facts

• The set has 10 sentences, and a sentence scores only if every block, particle, ending and space is right.
• Eight correct out of ten is the target before you move on.
• 봤어요 is the contracted form of 보았어요, and it is never spelled 봐써요.
• 있었어요 holds two ㅆ: one belongs to the stem 있 and one is the past marker.
• 거 in 갈 거예요 is a dependent noun, so it is written as a separate word.

Last updated: 2026-10-09. The Korean text, romanization and audio scripts on this page are generated drafts that still await review by a Korean specialist.

What Is Korean Sentence Dictation A2?

Dictation (받아쓰기) is a task in which you listen to speech and write exactly what you hear. At A2, the sentences are longer than the A1 set and use the past tense, the connector -아서/어서 ("because" or "and then") and the future form -(으)ㄹ 거예요. Each sentence has 4 to 6 words.

The task trains one skill that reading and speaking do not: turning sound into correct spelling. Korean spelling follows grammar, so the spoken form often differs from the written one. 봤어요 is said [봐써요], and you must still write 봤어요. Every dictation set, from syllables to sound changes, is listed in the Korean dictation practice hub.

The next section explains why English speakers find this harder than it sounds.

Why Is This Hard for English Speakers?

Hangul is often described as phonetic, so learners expect to spell Korean by ear. In Korean, spelling keeps the stem and ending visible, and the ear does not hear that. Three habits cause most errors.

• Spelling by sound. The ear hears [봐써요] and the hand writes 봐써요.
• Missing spaces. Spoken Korean has no pauses between 갈 and 거예요, so learners join them.
• Dropped doubles. The double ㅆ in [이써써요] sounds like one long syllable run, so one ㅆ gets lost.

Knowing these three traps before you listen makes the check at the end more useful. The next section shows how the set is organised.

How Does the Set Work?

The set works in five steps, and the whole task takes about 25 minutes.

1. Play item 1 once at normal speed without writing.
2. Play it again and write the whole sentence in Hangul, with spaces.
3. Replay at slow speed (0.8x) only for the part you missed.
4. Move to the next item. Do not check answers yet.
5. After item 10, open the answer key and mark each sentence right or wrong.

If you prefer paper, write the ten sentences in a notebook and compare them with the key below. Items 1 to 5 come first.

Listen: Items 1 to 5

Play each clip, then write what you hear. Each sentence is one clip.

Items 6 to 10 follow the same pattern.

Listen: Items 6 to 10

These five items add a time word, a place and a second verb.

Do not scroll further until you have written all ten.

Answer Key and Scoring

Mark a sentence correct only if every block, particle, ending and space matches. Half marks are not used. Revised Romanization (RR) is a reading aid here, not an answer.

Count your correct sentences and read your band.

These bands are this lesson's own guide, not a standard test scale. A low score is not a failure. It tells you which rule to fix, which the next section turns into a plan.

What Should I Do after a Low Score?

After a low score, sort your errors by type before you replay anything. Put each wrong sentence in one of four groups: spelling by sound (items 1, 4, 5, 9), a missing or extra ㅆ (items 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10), a spacing error (item 3) or a vocabulary gap (any word you could not hear at all).

Fix one group at a time. For spelling by sound, say the sentence aloud while looking at the key, then cover the key and write it again. For a vocabulary gap, look up the word and write it five times. Repeat the whole set after one day, not at once, because the answers are still in short-term memory straight away. The worked example shows the method on item 1.

Worked Example: 어제 친구를 만나서 영화를 봤어요

Item 1 is a good model because it holds three traps in one line. Follow these steps.

1. Split by spaces: 어제 / 친구를 / 만나서 / 영화를 / 봤어요. Each space marks a word or a word plus particle.
2. Find the particles: 를 after 친구 and after 영화 marks the objects. You hear [친구를] and [영화를].
3. Write the connector: 만나다 (to meet) has the stem 만나. The vowel ㅏ is bright, so the connector is -아서, and 만나 + 아서 contracts to 만나서.
4. Build the past: 보다 (to see) has the stem 보. Add -았어요 to get 보았어요, then contract ㅗ + ㅏ into ㅘ: 봤어요.
5. Check the sound: you hear [봐써요], but the written form keeps 봤.

You will know it worked when your written line contains 봤 with ㅆ under the block, not 봐 plus 써. Learners often skip this check, which leads to the mistakes below.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make Here?

Learners often treat Korean spelling as a copy of sound. Each mistake below has a cause.

• Mistake 1: 봐써요. Learners often write what they hear. Actually the written form is 봤어요, because the stem and ending stay visible in spelling.
• Mistake 2: one ㅆ in 있었어요. Learners often write 있어요 or 이써요. Actually 있었어요 needs the ㅆ of 있 and the ㅆ of 었, so the past tense has two.
• Mistake 3: 갈거예요. Learners often join the words. Actually 거 is a dependent noun, and dependent nouns are written as separate words.
• Mistake 4: 가조카고. Learners often write the aspirated sound. Actually the spelling stays 가족하고, and the sound change happens only in speech.
• Mistake 5: 어렵찌만. Learners often copy the tense [찌]. Actually the ending is -지만, and the tensing is not written.

Expert tip: when you hear a surprising sound inside a verb, rebuild the verb from its dictionary form, then add the ending. Next, test that habit.

Practice and Answer Key

Correct the five wrong spellings. Each one comes from a sentence in this set.

1. 영화를 봐써요
2. 집에 이써써요
3. 내일 갈거예요
4. 한국어가 어렵찌만 재미있어요
5. 가조카고 밥을 먹었어요

Answer key

1. 영화를 봤어요 (contract 보았어요)
2. 집에 있었어요 (two ㅆ)
3. 내일 갈 거예요 (space before 거)
4. 한국어가 어렵지만 재미있어요 (-지만, not 찌)
5. 가족하고 밥을 먹었어요 (spell the stem, not the sound)

Four or five correct means the main rules are secure. Then continue to the next step.

Where to Go Next

After Korean sentence dictation A2, practise spelling words whose written and spoken forms differ in Korean Sound Change Dictation. For the grammar behind item 3, read about the Korean future tense. Spacing rules for 거 and other dependent nouns are in dependent nouns spacing. To see every set in order, return to the Korean Dictation hub.

This page covers ten sentences in standard Seoul speech at A2 level. It does not teach full past-tense conjugation or all spacing rules.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it 봤어요 and not 봐써요? Spelling follows the grammar, not the sound. The verb stem 보 plus the past ending -았어요 gives 보았어요, and 보았 contracts to 봤, with ㅆ as the past marker. 봤어요 is spoken [봐써요], but Hangul spelling keeps the stem and the ending visible, so only 봤어요 is correct.

Is there a space in 갈 거예요? Yes. 거 is a dependent noun meaning roughly 'the thing' or 'the plan', and the Hangul Orthography (한글 맞춤법) writes dependent nouns as separate words. So 갈 거예요 has a space, even though it is spoken in one breath as [갈꺼예요]. Writing 갈거예요 is a common spacing error.

How do I write -아서 and -어서? Both mean 'because' or 'and then'. Use -아서 after a stem whose last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ, as in 와서 and 가서. Use -어서 after other vowels, as in 먹어서. Verbs ending in 하 become 해서, as in 피곤해서. The vowel in the stem decides the choice.

What is a double ㅆ? A double ㅆ is two ㅆ sounds in a row, as in 있었어요 [이써써요]. The first ㅆ is the final of the stem 있, and the second is the past marker in 었. Learners often write only one ㅆ, which changes the word to the present tense 있어요 or to a wrong spelling.

How many sentences should I get right? Aim for eight out of ten. That target is this lesson's own rule of thumb, not an official test score. If you score lower, replay the clips at slow speed, fix the missed rule and repeat the set after one day. If you score nine or ten, move on to sound-change dictation.

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