Making Negative Sentences

Question 1

아니다: a descriptive verb that means ‘to not be.’

Opposite of 이다 meaning ‘to be.’

Answer 1

Present Tense Informal Form: Noun + subject marker(이/가) + 아니에요.
(This is similar to how 이다 can become 이에요.)
Ex: 저는 빌리예요. ‘I am Billy.’
저는 빌리가 아니에요. ‘I am not Billy.’

Past Tense Informal Form: Noun + subject marker(이/가) + 아니었어요.
Ex: 그건 우리 고양이가 아니었어요. ‘That wasn’t my cat.’

Future Tense Informal Form: Noun + subject marker(이/가) + 아닐 거예요.
Ex: 이건 문제가 아닐 거예요. ‘This won’t be a problem.’

Question 2

모르다: an action verb that means ‘to not know,’

Opposite of the verb 알다 ‘to know.’

Answer 2

Ex: 저는 알아요. ‘I know.’
빌리 씨를 아세요? ‘Do you know Billy?’
저는 빌리 씨를 몰라요. ‘I do not know Billy.’
우시 선생님도 빌리 씨를 모르세요. ‘Our teacher also doesn’t know Billy.’

Question 3

없다: a descriptive verb that means ‘to not exist.’

Opposite of 있다 ‘to exist.’

Answer 3

Note: both 있다 and 없다 are descriptive verbs, and therefore cannot use the object marker (을/를).

Ex: 빌리 씨는 어디 있어요? ‘Where is Billy?’
빌리 씨는 지금 박물관에 없어요. ‘Billy is not at the museum now.’
우리 집에 피자가 없어요. ‘There is no pizza at our house.’
제 방에 침대가 없었어요. ‘There wasn’t a bed in my room.’

Question 4

지 않다

Answer 4

Used to make any other verb negative.

1) get the verb stem
2) attach 지 않다
3) conjugate 지 않다

지 않아요 (present tense informal form)
지 않았어요 (past tense informal form)
지 않을 거예요 (future tense informal form)

Ex: 덥지 않아요. ‘It’s not hot.’ As in, ‘The weather is not hot.’
Ex2: 저도 우유를 좋아하지 않아요. ‘I also don’t like milk.’
Ex3: 빌리 씨는 수영장에 가지 않을 거예요. ‘Billy will not go to the swimming pool.’
Ex4: 저는 지금 화장실에 가고 싶지 않아요. ‘I do not want to go to the bathroom now.’

Question 5

안

Answer 5

Some verbs can also become negative just by attaching 안.

1) attach the 안 before the verb
2) conjugate the verb normally

Ex: 안 추워요. ‘It’s not cold.’ As in, ‘The weather is not cold.’
Ex2: 내일 회사에 안 갈 거예요. ‘I won’t go to the company tomorrow.’
Ex3: 저는 감자튀김을 안 좋아해요. ‘I don’t like French fries.’
Ex4: 아침을 아직 안 먹었어요. ‘I did not eat breakfast yet.’ Or, ‘I still didn’t eat breakfast.’

When to use 안:
1. If you’ve seen/heard a verb use 안 before it, then it can use 안.

2. If the verb only has only two syllables, it can use 안.
   Ex: 살다 ‘to live,’ 가다 ‘to go,’ 오다 ‘to come,’ 하다 ‘to do,’ 먹다 ‘to eat,’ 덥다 ‘to be hot,’ or 춥다 ‘to be cold,’ 벌다 ‘to earn,’ 팔다 ‘to sell,’ 사다 ‘to buy,’ and many others.
3. If the verb does not end with 하다, it can probably use 안 before it to make it negative.
   Ex: 가르치다 ‘to teach,’ 배우다 ‘to learn,’ 괜찮다 ‘to be okay’ or ‘fine,’ 도와주다 ‘to help,’ 어렵다 ‘to be difficult,’ 부럽다 ‘to be jealous,’ 예쁘다 ‘to be pretty,’ and 보내다 ‘to send.’
4. If there’s a verb that ends with 하다, but 하다 can be separated from its object marker (을/를), you can use 안 before the verb 하다.
   (Note: These verbs have been marked it with the object marker in parentheses.)
   Ex: 공부(를)하다 ‘to study’ could become 공부 안 하다, ‘to not study.’ (This could not become 안 공부하다.)
5. Any descriptive verb can use 안. This is because they cannot be separated, even if they use 하다.

Question 6

If a verb can use both 지 않다 as well as 안, you can use either.

Answer 6

Feel free to use 지 않다 or 안 if you know that a verb can use one or the other.
But when in doubt, just use the ending 지 않다.

Ex: You can say 저는 피자를 좋아하지 않아요. ‘I don’t like pizza.’
Or you could just say 저는 피자를 안 좋아해요.

Question 7

Depending on how you answer a negative question, 네 ‘yes’ can actually mean 아니요 ‘no’ - or vice versa.

Answer 7

네 ‘yes’ can actually mean 아니요 ‘no’ in Korean when using a negative verb.
Ex: 김치를 좋아해요? ‘Do you like kimchi?’
You can answer to that 네 ‘I like it.’ ‘Yes, I like kimchi.’

But if someone were to ask you 김치를 좋아하지 않아요? ‘Do you not like kimchi?’ or ‘Don’t you like kimchi?’
If you were to reply with 네, that actually means ‘No, I do not like kimchi’ because 네 is agreeing with what they said, 김치를 좋아하지 않아요. ‘I do not like kimchi.’

So instead, to answer a negative question, just say 아니요, 좋아해요. ‘No, I like it.’

Or even better, to avoid any confusion when answering these sort of negative questions, simply answer with a full sentence instead of just using one word.

Question 8

Some adverbs are negative adverbs (aka: adverbs that are only used with negative verbs), meaning that they’re only used in negative sentences.
Two most common: 별로 and 전혀

Answer 8

별로 means ‘not very’ or ‘not a lot,’ and it’s the opposite of saying ‘very’ or ‘a lot.’
Ex: 별로 좋아하지 않아요. ‘I don’t like it very much.’
Ex2: 저는 한국어를 별로 잘할 수 없어요. ‘I can’t speak Korean very well.’

전혀 means ‘at all,’ and this is the opposite of saying ‘completely’ or ‘absolutely.’
Ex: 저는 일본어를 전혀 몰라요. ‘I don’t know Japanese at all.’
Ex2: 빌리 씨를 전혀 만나고 싶지 않아요. ‘I don’t want to meet Billy at all.’