영어로 짧은 여행 이야기 쓰는 법 (B1 초중급): 배경, 전환점, 결말

짧은 여행 이야기에는 다섯 부분이 있어요. 장면, 그때 일어나고 있던 일, 주요 사건, 이유나 결과, 그리고 결말과 내 느낌이에요. 배경은 과거진행형으로(“I was waiting outside the cinema”), 이야기를 움직이는 사건은 과거형으로 말해요(“when she sent me a message”). 한국어 “기다리고 있었는데 메시지가 왔어요”가 바로 이 구조예요. 사건은 “when”, “suddenly”, “after that”, “because”, “so”, “although”로 이어요. 이 글은 B1(초중급) 수준의 성인을 위한 글이고, 자신 있는 A2 학습자도 따라올 수 있어요. 120~150단어를 목표로 하세요.

이 글이 맞는 분

초중급 수준의 성인: 과거형은 알지만 이야기가 사건을 나열한 목록처럼 되는 분.
여행 이야기를 영어로 올리거나 동료에게 주말에 있었던 일을 말하고 싶은 분.
짧은 이야기나 과거 경험을 묻는 쓰기·말하기 과제를 준비하는 분.
아직 이르다면: “went”, “took”, “didn’t go” 같은 과거형이 아직 낯설다면 먼저 어느 저녁에 있었던 일을 순서대로 쓰는 A2 글부터 보세요.
너무 쉽다면: 배경, 사건, 이유를 생각하지 않고도 자연스럽게 섞을 수 있다면 B2 수준의 완성된 짧은 이야기 쓰기로 넘어가세요.

예시 학습 페이지 열기

단어 카드

invite somebody to dinner

ask a person to have an evening meal with you as your guest

Nadia invited her new neighbour to dinner on Friday.

have a great time

enjoy an experience very much

Although the cafe was crowded, we had a great time.

meet in a coffee bar

arrange to see somebody inside a cafe

We met in a coffee bar opposite the cinema.

give somebody your phone number

tell or send somebody the number they can use to call you

Leo gave the organiser his phone number in case the plan changed.

take somebody to a restaurant

go with somebody to a restaurant, often because you chose or arranged it

For her birthday, I took my sister to a small Turkish restaurant.

wait for somebody

stay in a place until a person arrives

I waited for Anna outside the cinema for twenty minutes.

대화

maya Did you ever miss a film you really wanted to see?

owen Yes, once. One rainy evening, I was waiting for Anna outside the cinema when she sent me a message.

maya What happened?

owen Her bus broke down, so she was very late. The rain got heavier, and I went into the cafe across the street.

maya Was that the end of your evening?

owen No. Suddenly, someone called my name. It was Dev, an old college friend. I last saw him five years ago.

maya What did you do after that?

owen Anna arrived twenty minutes later and joined us. Although we missed the film, the three of us had a great evening.

문장 형태

Why did the evening change?

Anna's bus broke down, so Owen went into a cafe and unexpectedly met an old friend.

Sequencers order events; because gives a reason, so gives a result, and although introduces a surprising contrast.

One rainy evening
Suddenly
After that
Although

추가 연습

Past continuous: form, meaning, and weak forms

Maya works at a riverside event while volunteers carry boxes as rain begins.

was / were + verb-ing

Form the past continuous with past be and an -ing verb.

I was checking names while the volunteers were carrying boxes.

an action in progress

Use the past continuous for an action happening at a particular past moment.

At eight thirty, Maya was standing at the registration table.

background to a story

Use the past continuous to describe the situation around the main events.

It was raining and people were waiting under the trees.

wasn't / weren't + verb-ing

Use wasn't or weren't to say an action was not in progress.

The runners weren't moving because they were waiting for the start.

Was / Were + subject + verb-ing?

Put was or were before the subject to ask about an action in progress.

Were you working when the rain started?

past continuous + when + past simple

Use past continuous for the longer action and past simple for the event that happens during it.

We were carrying the boxes when the rain started.

was /wəz/

In normal positive speech, unstressed was usually has the weak vowel /ə/.

Maya was /wəz/ checking the list.

were /wə/

In normal positive speech, unstressed were is usually short and weak: /wə/.

The volunteers were /wə/ carrying boxes.

Sequencers, connectors, and word stress

Two rainy-evening story moments: Owen waits by a cinema, and Priya finds a notebook near a bus stop and closed police station.

One evening in October, …

Use a time phrase at the start to establish when a story begins.

One evening in October, I was waiting outside a cinema.

When …, …

Use when to connect an action or time with the event that happens at that point.

When I checked my phone, I saw Anna's message.

Two minutes later / After that / The next day

Use these sequencers to move from one event to a later event.

Two minutes later, the bus arrived. After that, I went home.

Suddenly, …

Use suddenly before an unexpected event.

Suddenly, someone called my name from across the street.

because = reason · so = result

Use because before the reason; use so before the result of an earlier fact.

Anna was late because her bus broke down, so I went into the cafe.

although = surprising contrast

Use although to join two facts when the second is surprising beside the first.

Although we missed the film, we had a great evening.

AFter · BIRTHday · EVEning · AWful · PERfect · QUICKly

Most two-syllable nouns, adjectives, and adverbs have stronger stress on the first syllable.

After a perfect evening, we quickly walked home.

aCROSS · aGAIN · aLONG · alTHOUGH · beCAUSE · inVITE

Many two-syllable verbs, prepositions, and connectors have stronger stress on the second syllable.

Although it rained again, they invited us along.

Write a short travel story

THE BLUE UMBRELLA

Last October, I was staying in Bristol with my friend Lena. One rainy evening, we left a cafe and I took a blue umbrella from the stand by the door. When we reached our hotel, I saw a label on it: ‘M. Patel, Riverside Theatre.’ It wasn't my umbrella.

Because the theatre was only ten minutes away, we walked back through the rain. While the receptionist was calling Ms Patel, a violinist came downstairs with my black umbrella. She made exactly the same mistake, so we exchanged them and laughed.

After that, she offered us two empty seats for that evening's concert. Although our clothes were wet and we missed our bus, the music was wonderful. In the end, the wrong umbrella became the best part of our weekend.

What does a clear short narrative need?

Set the scene, show what was happening, order the main events, explain one reason or result, and finish with the outcome and reaction.

The model below is a complete travel-blog story, not a list of notes.

One rainy evening
when
because
so
after that
although
in the end

이 단원 배우기

어떻게 배우고 싶나요?

계정이 있나요?

무료 계정은 한 단원을 계속 열어 둘 수 있습니다.

짧은 이야기의 다섯 부분

각 부분은 한두 문장이면 충분해요.

장면: “Last October, I was staying with friends in Porto.”
배경: “It was raining, and we were looking for a taxi.”
주요 사건: “A bus stopped, and we got on.”
결과: “It was the wrong bus, so we ended up on the other side of the city.”
결말과 느낌: “Although we were lost, we found a wonderful little restaurant there.”

“at”, “in”, “on”으로 장면 정하기

첫 문장은 언제, 어디서인지 알려 줘요. 한국어는 “포르투에서”, “4월에”, “역에서”, “8시 30분에”처럼 “에/에서”로 거의 다 해결되지만, 영어는 장소와 시간의 종류에 따라 “in”, “on”, “at”을 골라요.

“in”: 도시, 나라, 달, 하루 중 때: “in Porto”, “in April”, “in the evening”
“on”: 요일, 날짜, 대중교통: “on Friday”, “on 3 May”, “on the train”
“at”: 시각, 특정 지점, 몇몇 굳은 표현: “at eight thirty”, “at the station”, “at night”
“last”, “next”, “this” 앞에는 전치사를 쓰지 않아요: “last June”. “작년 6월에”의 “에” 때문에 “in last June”이라고 하기 쉬우니 조심하세요.

배경은 과거진행형, 사건은 과거형

과거진행형(“was/were + -ing”)은 이미 진행 중이던 동작을 보여 주고, 과거형은 상황을 바꾸는 사건을 말해요. 둘이 만나면 긴 동작은 진행형, 중간에 끼어든 짧은 사건은 과거형이에요. 한국어 “-고 있었다”가 대체로 과거진행형에 해당해요. 말할 때 “was”와 “were”는 보통 약하게 /wəz/, /wə/로 발음해요.

배경: “It was raining, and people were waiting under the trees.”
중간에 끊긴 동작: “We were carrying the boxes when the rain started.”
연달아 일어난 사건: “I opened my bag, looked inside and found my passport.”
상태 동사는 진행형으로 쓰지 않아요: “I knew him from college.”

짧은 대화: 계획이 틀어진 저녁

배경(“was waiting”), 결과(“so”), 전환점(“Suddenly”), 그리고 마지막 대조(“Although”)를 들어 보세요.

Maya Did you ever miss a film you really wanted to see?

Owen Yes, once. One rainy evening, I was waiting for Anna outside the cinema when she sent me a message.

Maya What happened?

Owen Her bus broke down, so she was very late. The rain got heavier, and I went into the cafe across the street.

Maya Was that the end of your evening?

Owen No. Suddenly, someone called my name. It was Dev, an old college friend. I last saw him five years ago.

Maya What did you do after that?

Owen Anna arrived twenty minutes later and joined us. Although we missed the film, the three of us had a great evening.

순서를 나타내는 말과 연결어

순서를 나타내는 말은 사건을 차례대로 놓고, “because”, “so”, “although”는 사건을 서로 이어 줘요.

시작: “One rainy evening last October, …”
같은 순간: “When I checked my phone, I saw her message.”
그 뒤: “Two minutes later”, “After that”, “The next day”
전환점: “Suddenly, someone called my name.”
이유와 결과: “She was late because her bus broke down, so I went into the café.”
대조: “Although we missed the film, we had a great evening.”
결말: “In the end”는 “결국”이라는 뜻이고, “at the end of”는 어떤 일이 끝나는 시점이에요.

나에게 맞는 방법으로 이 단원 배우기

결말과 느낌으로 끝내기

어떻게 끝났는지, 기분이 어땠는지를 알맞은 강도의 형용사로 말해요.

아주 좋음: “The view from our room was wonderful.”
그럭저럭 괜찮음: “The hostel was basic, but it was not bad for the price.”
아주 나쁨: “The trip home was awful because the train was late.”

자주 하는 실수

모두 쉽게 고칠 수 있어요.

“when she was sending me a message.” 중간에 끼어든 사건은 과거형이에요. “when she sent me a message.”
“Although we missed the film, but …” “비록 ~지만”을 그대로 옮긴 실수예요. “although”나 “but” 중 하나만 써요.
“I didn’t went.” “didn’t” 뒤에는 동사원형이 와요. “I didn’t go.”
“book-ed”처럼 음절을 하나 더 넣기. “-ed”는 t나 d 소리 뒤에서만 /ɪd/가 돼요(“wanted”). “booked”는 한 음절이니 끝에 모음을 붙이지 마세요.
결말 없이 끝내기. 결국 어떻게 됐는지와 내 느낌을 말해요.

하루 15분 연습법

실제 여행이나 어느 저녁을 하나 고르세요. 직접 겪은 이야기가 말하기 더 쉬워요.

3분: 대화를 재생하고, 한 문장마다 멈춰서 따라 말해요.
3분: 장면, 배경, 사건 두 개, 결말을 메모해요.
6분: “when”, “so”나 “because”, “although”를 넣어 120~150단어로 써요.
3분: 소리 내어 읽고, 보지 않고 다시 말해 봐요.

다음 단계

다음에는 앞으로 일어날 일을 계획해 보세요. 시간과 대안 계획이 있는 여행 일정이에요. 그다음에는 어떤 경험이 지금 무엇을 바꿨는지처럼 과거의 일을 현재와 이어 써 보세요.

자주 묻는 질문

이야기할 때 과거진행형은 언제 쓰나요?

배경을 말할 때, 그리고 다른 일이 일어났을 때 진행 중이던 동작에 써요. “I was waiting outside the cinema when she called.”

“because”, “so”, “although”는 어떻게 다른가요?

“because”는 이유, “so”는 결과를 말하고, “although”는 뜻밖의 대조를 더해요. “Although we missed the film, we had a great evening.”

짧은 여행 이야기는 몇 단어가 적당한가요?

120~150단어, 열 문장 정도면 돼요. 장면, 사건 서너 개, 이유 하나, 결말을 담기에 충분해요.

다음 연습 살펴보기

사진과 그 의미를 영어로 묘사하기 (B1)