Learning Korean through music: 숨은 그림 찾기 by 자우림

A post from another site of mine that I originally wrote on 2004.01.06. Remember, the translation is done as literally as possible, in order to help the student.

Here's a live version of the song.



Original post from 2004:

This song is quite a nice one, one of my favourites. 숨은 그림 찾기 means 'looking for the hidden picture' (note from 2009: in other words, a picture puzzle), and is about childhood. There's little repetition and a lot of content in this song, and a lot of the words are literary terms, but for those who are looking for new vocabulary it's quite a good song. The voice is also nice and clear.


Lyrics


6)그래 모두 돌아가고 싶은 그때로
길던 하루해 작은 선물상자 따스하던 엄마의 품
학교가는 길, 작은 구멍가게 재미있던 소꼽놀이
다시 볼 수 없을 그리운 친구들 하지만 이런게 다일까, 그럴까
전쟁놀이 하던 날 내가 던진 돌에 맞아서 울던 그 친구, 피가 흘렀던 이마
병원놀이 하자고 우릴 옥상으로 불러내 묘한눈빛으로 우릴 바라보던 그 오빠
지루한 하루 원치 않은 선물 무서웠던 아빠의 매
다신 보기 싫은 미웠던 사람들 하지만 아무말 못했지, 그랬지
거짓말을 했던 날, 들킬까봐 마음 졸이며 뒤척이던 밤 두근거리던 마음
아빠 엄마 싸운날 동생하고 둘이 손잡고 무서워 울었던 기억하고 싶지 않은 그날밤
That's right, to the time that everybody wants to return to...
Long days, small treasure boxes, mom's warm lap/breast
the road to school, small hidden stores, playing house
Dear friends that you'll never see again, but is that all? Is that right?
The day we played war, the friend who got hit by the rock I threw and cried, the blood on his forehead
When you called us up to the roof to play hospital, the guy who gave us that strange look
Boring days, presents you didn't want. dad's scary whip
Those hateful people you didn't want to see anymore, but you couldn't say anything, right?
The day you lied, when you were nervous because you might get found out, spending nights awake, your thumping heart
The day mom and dad got into a fight, holding hands with your younger sibling, that night you don't want to remember when you got scared and cried...

돌아가다-Return, go home.
길다-Long.
선물-Present.
상자-Box.
따스하다-Warm, soft.
품-Breast.
학교-School.
구멍-Hole.
가게-Store. Adding 구멍 to가게 means a store that is slightly hidden, or not well known.
재미-Interest. 재미 있다 means interesting, 재미 없다 means boring.
소 꼽놀이- Playing house. The dictionary claims that this word is written 소꿉놀이, which was backed up by a few friends I know, so either Jaurim has written it wrong or there is another spelling for it.
친구-Friend.
다-All.
전쟁-War.
던지다-Throw.
맞 다-In this case 맞다 means to be hit by something. 맞다 also means to be correct. 아, 맞다. 맞아, 맞아. 네, 맞아요. are all varying ways of saying 'that's right/correct.'
피-Blood.
흘리다-To flow.
이마-Forehead.
병원-Hospital.
옥상-Roof.
불러내다-Call over (a friend or somebody).
묘하다-Strange, odd.
바라보다-To gaze or stare at.
지루하다-Boring.
원치않은-Not wanted. A negative form of 원하다, to want something.
매-Whip, strap.
들키다-To be found out, to be caught in the act of doing something.
뒤척이다 - To be all pent up
두근거리다-To make a thumping noise. 두근두근 is the sound of a thumping heart.
싸우다-To fight, argue.
동생-Younger sibling.
기억하다-To remember.

-This song has many excellent examples of using nouns at the end of the sentence. These are the equivalent of the English 'he (somebody) who (somethinged) the (noun), as in: The man who drank the coffee, the river that leads down south, the floor that used to be made of wood, etc.
For example, 학교가는 길-The road that goes to school. If one were to reverse the order it would become 길이 학교에 가다- The road goes to school. By taking the verb and replacing 다 with 는, or 은/던, we can join verbs to nouns in this way.
학교가는 길(The road that goes to school),
학교간 길(The road that went to school),
학교가던 길(The road that went to school - further in the past).
병원놀이 하자고-somebody says let's play hospital. 하자 means let's do, and 고 is used when quoting something a person has said. Were this a full sentence it might look like: 어제 친구가 병원놀이(를) 하자고 그랬어/말했어. Yesterday my friend said let's play hospital.

보기 싫은-Something somebody doesn't want to see. Putting a -기 싫다 after a verb implies that the person doesn't want to do the action. The opposite is -기 좋은. E.g. 먹기 싫은 걸 안 먹어도 돼. You don't have to eat what you don't want to. Note: 걸=것을.
하기 싫은 일 Something you hate to do
하기 좋은 일 Something you like to do
읽기 좋은 책 A book you like to read
읽기 싫은 책 A book you hate to read

The above sentences can be turned into:
이런 일을 하기 싫어! I hate doing this kind of work!
이런 일을 하기 좋아! I like doing this kind of work!
이 책을 읽기 좋아! I like reading this book!
이 책을 읽기 싫어! I hate reading this book!