Say no, and ask a question

Korean has no “the” and no “a”. Learn the three ways of saying no, the words for what, who and where, and the three distances Korean points at.

≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

Korean has no “the”, no “a”, and no masculine or feminine nouns.
The opposite of 이다i-da is 아니다a-ni-da“is not”; the opposite of 있다it-tta is 없다eop-tta; an ordinary verb takes 안an in front.
Korean yes and no agree with the question, not with the fact.
Nothing inverts in a question: the question word sits where the answer would, and the voice rises.
Korean points three ways, and the middle one, 그geu, does the job English does with “the”.

Turn a sentence into its opposite

Korean has no single word for “not”. Which way you say no depends on the word at the end of the sentence, so read each pair from left to right.

내 친구다nae chin-gu-da“is my friend”

내 친구가 아니다nae chin-gu-ga a-ni-da“is not my friend”

the glued 다 comes off, a subject tag goes on, and 아니다 ends the sentence as a word of its own

있다it-tta“there is; have”

없다eop-tta“there is none; have not”

one word, not built from 안

본다bon-da“sees”

안 본다an bon-da“does not see”

ordinary verbs take one syllable in front; it travels with the verb to the end

간다gan-da“goes”

못 간다mot kan-da“cannot go”

a second syllable for the same slot: 안 is does not, 못 is cannot. Spoken: 못 가요mot ka-yo, 못 먹어요mon meo-geo-yo“cannot eat”

Yes, no, and the trap under them

Two words, and one habit to unlearn. Read the note underneath before you trust either of them.

English	Korean
yes	네ne
no	아니요a-ni-yo

They agree with the question, not the fact. Asked “do you not see it?”, 네ne means “correct — I do not”. English speakers answer this backwards for years.

Words for what, who and where

A question word asks for the missing piece of a sentence. In Korean it sits exactly where the answer would sit.

English	Korean	Note
what	무엇mu-eot	shrinks to 뭐mwo whenever anyone speaks
who	누구nu-gu
where	어디eo-di
when	언제eon-je
why	왜wae	likes the front — it asks about the whole sentence

Nothing inverts, nothing is added at the front: the question word sits exactly where the answer would. Compare 이것은 나무다i-geo-seun na-mu-da“this is a tree” with 이것은 뭐예요?i-geo-seun mwo-ye-yo“what is this?” — the question word sat down in the tree’s chair, wearing 요 because a person is asking.

Pointing: this, that, and that over there

English points two ways, here and there. Korean points three, and the row you want depends on how far away the thing is.

Distance	Word	Place
near me	이i“this”	여기yeo-gi“here”
near you, or already mentioned	그geu“that”	거기geo-gi“there”
away from us both	저jeo“that over there”	저기jeo-gi“over there”

Add 것geot“thing” to point at a thing: 그것geu-geot“that thing”. In a story, 그geu means “the one we were just talking about” — 그 나무geu na-mu“that tree” is doing the job English does with “the”.

Say no, and answer a question

물은 여기 있다. 거기에는 없다.
The second sentence denies the first, with the one-word opposite of 있다.
Show answer +Hide answer −
mu-reun yeo-gi it-tta. geo-gi-e-neun eop-tta — “The water is here. It is not there.”
그것은 내 집이 아니다.
Says what something is not, so the last word stands alone.
Show answer +Hide answer −
geu-geo-seun nae ji-bi a-ni-da — “That is not my house.”
Somebody asks 안 봐요?an bwa-yo — “do you not see it?” You genuinely do not. 네 or 아니요?
Show answer +Hide answer −
네ne. Korean agrees with the question: “correct — I do not.”

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