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안녕하세요, 여러분😁! (Hello, everyone!) So far, you've learned the present and past tense sentences in a positive meaning. Today, I'll show you how to turn those positive sentences into negative ones! This lesson will be easy enough if you already studied the present and past tense sentences well!
<Table of Contents>
1. The negative adverb: 안
1) What is 안?
The adverb 안 [an] changes statements or questions into negative ones. Just like "not" in English! You add 안 before a verb or an adjective. Read the examples below and pay attention to where 안 is inserted! This 안 is one word. So, you will see the spaces before and after this word.
책을 읽어요. I read books.
↔ 책을 안 읽어요. I don't read books.
밥을 먹었어요. I ate my meal.
↔ 밥을 안 먹었어요. I didn't eat my meal.
학교에 갔어요. I went to school.
↔ 학교에 안 갔어요. I didn't go to school.
모자가 예뻐요. The hat is pretty.
↔ 모자가 안 예뻐요. The hat is not pretty.
2) For 하다 verbs
For 하다 verbs that are made from a noun + 하다 (like 공부하다, 숙제하다), the adverb 안 will be located between a noun and 하다. It is because "안" is supposed to come before the predicate (a verb or an adjective), not a noun. To do so, you must separate a noun and 하다 using an object marker. Take a look at the example below.
숙제하다 to do homework → This word is the combination of the noun 숙제 (homework) and 하다(do). → A noun needs an object marker. Since 숙제 ends with a vowel, we need 를. → 숙제를 하다. → We insert 안 before the verb. → 숙제를 안 하다.
⚠︎ We can't say "안 숙제를 하다." or "안 숙제하다." 숙제 is a noun, not a verb. You must add this adverb 안 right before a verb!
공부하다 to study → 공부를 하다 → 공부를 안 하다.
<My Language Tips!>
Some adjectives end with 하다 as well. However, 하다 adjective is not a combination of a noun and 하다. It is considered as one word. For adjectives, you don't have to worry about separating them.
뚱뚱해요. I'm chubby.
↔ 안 뚱뚱해요. I'm not chubby.
2. In the case of 이다 or 있다
1) 이다
이다 is the "be" verb in the Korean language. The negative form of 이다 is 아니다 (not to be). We don't use 안 to this word. If you want to learn more about the "아니에요" expression, please click here to read my other post.
example 1
저는 학생이에요. I'm a student.
↔ 저는 학생이 아니에요. I'm not a student.
If you use 안 and say "저는 학생이 안 이에요," it is a very wrong sentence. Please make sure to use 아니에요!
example 2
저는 가수예요. I am a singer.
↔ 저는 가수가 아니에요. I am not a singer.
2) 있다
있다 means something exists in Korean. Usually, it is translated as "have" or "There is/There are". The negative form of this 있다 is 없다.
example 1
학교에 학생이 있어요. There are students in school.
↔ 학교에 학생이 없어요. There is no student in school.
If you say "학교에 학생이 안 있어요," this would be wrong. So, please make sure to use 없다 for the antonym of 있다.
example 2
의자가 있어요. I have a chair. / There is a chair.
↔ 의자가 없어요. I don't have a chair. / There is no chair.
If you want to learn more about 있다 and 없다, please check this post. Link to "have/ not have" 있다, 없다
3. Examples
Making the negative sentence using 안 is very simple! Here are some examples to help you to practice.
1
가: 밥을 먹었어요? Did you eat?
나: 아니요, 안 먹었어요. No, I didn't eat.
↪ 밥을 먹다 means "to eat a meal". 먹었어요 is the past tense of 먹다. The full-grammatical answer will be 아니요, 저는 밥을 안 먹었어요. But 저는 and 밥을 are pretty obvious parts. So, they are omitted.
2
가: 숙제를 했어요? Did you do your homework?
나: 아니요, 안 했어요. No, I didn't.
↪ 숙제하다 can be separated as 숙제를 하다. When you answer, you can say "아니요, 숙제를 안 했어요." but once again the object part is pretty obvious, so it is natural to say just "아니요, 안 했어요."
3
로이 씨는 오늘 학교에 안 왔어요. Roy didn't come to school today. (=Roy didn't attend school today.)
↪ This sentence is about Roy. So, we start the sentence with 로이 씨 with the topic marker 는. 오늘 means today. 학교 is a place noun, so we add the place marker 에. 왔어요 is the past tense word of 오다.
4
저는 어제 수영을 안 했어요. I didn't swim yesterday.
↪ 어제 means yesterday. 수영하다 means to swim and since it is a noun and 하다 verb, you can separate 수영을 and 하다. You put 안 before the actual verb part, 하다. By the way, 하다 is the basic form. It conjugates to 해요 in the present tense and 했어요 in the past tense.
5
가: 주스를 마셔요? Do you drink juice? / Are you drinking juice?
나: 아니요, 안 마셔요. No, I don't. / No, I am not.
↪ Korean present tense can both mean simple present tense and progressive present tense. You have to judge by the context which it means. No matter what, to make a negative sentence, you can simply add our negative adverb 안.
4. Wrap up: Korean negative sentence
How was the lesson today? For you, I'll wrap up the important things here. Also, don't forget to download the worksheet to practice your Korean! If you have any questions regarding this lesson, please let me know! 감사합니다! 😊
To make a negative sentence in Korean, use the negative adverb "안".
Put 안 right before the descriptive part (verb or adjective).
For some words, you have to use special forms, not 안.
이다 (be; am/are/is/was/were) ↔ 아니다 (not be; am not, are not, ...)
있다 (have, there is, there are) ↔ 없다 (not have, there is no)
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