Listening 4–8 Choosing the Response That Follows

Listening · Easy

Must secure. You only need to catch the one closing sentence.

In items 4–8 you hear a single short line — a question, a request, or a suggestion — just once, and choose from four options the reply that naturally follows it. Unlike items 1–3, there are no pictures, and from item 4 on the recording plays only one person's single sentence rather than a full exchange. So the first step in solving these items is identifying exactly what kind of line it is — a question, a request, or a suggestion. The form of the line determines what kind of reply fits naturally. A plain question ending in '-아/어요?' calls for an answer that directly gives the information asked about, while a request such as '-아/어 주시겠어요?' or '-아/어 줄 수 있어요?' naturally gets a reply that accepts or declines. A suggestion ending in '-ㄹ까요?' needs a reply that agrees or offers a different idea. Miss this form and you risk picking an option whose content sounds plausible but whose register is off — for example, answering a question with nothing but an interjection. The trap to watch for in this type is jumping at a single word from the line and choosing too hastily. For example, in the question '우체국이 어디 있는지 아세요?', if you latch onto only the word '우체국' (post office), you can easily be pulled toward an option about business hours or parcel delivery — related to the post office but unrelated to the question's real focus, '어디' (where). It is safer to look at the sentence's whole form together with its question word, not just one key word. Vocabulary and sentence structure are very easy, and you only need to hear one sentence, making this the shortest and easiest stretch in the entire TOPIK II Listening section. But precisely because it is short, there is no second chance to hear it — you must put all your focus into that one sentence, and if you let your attention slip and miss the first word, there is no time left to reconstruct the whole context.

Choosing the Response That Follows

• -아/어 주시겠어요? — A polite way to make a request. The reply follows with acceptance (네, I'll ~ / Sure) or a polite decline (I'm sorry, but ~).
• -아/어 줄 수 있어요? — A conversational request form. It is used between people on more casual terms than '-아/어 주시겠어요?', but the way you reply is the same.
• -(으)ㄹ까요? — A suggestion form that asks for the other person's opinion. The reply should be agreement (Sounds good / Sure) or another suggestion.
• -는 게 어때요? — A softer way to put forward a suggestion. As with '-(으)ㄹ까요?', the reply accepts, declines, or offers an alternative.
• -아/어도 될까요? — A form for asking permission. The reply grants it (Yes, go ahead / That's fine) or denies it (Sorry, but you can't).
• 의문사 질문(언제·어디·왜·얼마나) — The question word used determines what kind of answer fits. '언제' (when) calls for time, '어디' (where) for a place, and '왜' (why) only for a reason.
• 혹시 ~아세요?/~있어요? — A question that checks information cautiously. '혹시' (by any chance) softens the question in advance, allowing for a negative answer (not knowing).
• -(으)ㄹ래요? — A casual suggestion form used between close acquaintances. It is more informal than the polite '-(으)ㄹ까요?', but the way you reply (accept/decline) is the same.
• -(으)면 좋겠는데요 — A form that expresses a wish indirectly rather than making a direct request. It leads the listener to pick up on that wish and act on it.
• 고마워요/미안해요에 대한 관용 응답 — Set conventional replies follow thanks and apologies alike — '아니에요/뭘요' (Not at all / Oh, it's nothing) for thanks, '괜찮아요/아니에요' (It's fine / Don't worry) for apologies.
• -잖아요 — A form for restating something the other person already knows, either to explain or to mildly protest. It is followed by a reaction to that fact or a proposed solution.
• 이유를 묻는 '왜 그런지 아세요?' 유형 — A question asking why calls for an answer that explains the cause; replying with a simple confirmation of fact or a different topic altogether is wrong.

• The sentence-final form (the ending that marks it as a question, a request, or a suggestion)
• The question's key word (a question word such as what, when, or where)
• Expressions that accept or decline a request or suggestion

• First identify whether the line you hear is a question, a request, or a suggestion.
• If it is a question, check what information the question word is asking for.
• If it is a request or suggestion, watch whether the flow leans toward acceptance or refusal.
• Choose the option among the four whose register and content are both natural.

• Picking an option whose content is right but whose honorifics or register are off, making it sound unnatural
• Picking an option that quietly shifts to an unrelated topic instead of actually answering the question

This is the shortest and easiest stretch in the whole Listening section. Missing any of these five items costs you the most relative to the effort, so you must get every one right.