KOREAN LANGUAGE TUTORIAL

LESSON 79

Korean Lesson: Lessons 79

The meaning of 신경

The first thing you need to know is the meaning of “신경.” It actually has two meanings in English: a nerve and the word “care” in “I don’t care.” The first meaning is a “nerve” in the medical sense. You don’t really need to know all of these words (yet) because they are mostly words you wouldn’t use in every day conversation. For example:
감각신경 = sensory nerves (감각 means “sense”)
척수신경 = spinal nerves (척수 means “spine”)
Etc…
The second meaning is “care” to be used in sentences like:
I don’t care if you go
I don’t care about money
I don’t care how much you eat
This lesson will focus on this meaning of “신경.” Note that when신경 is used to mean “to care,” the verb “쓰다” is usually used instead of “하다.”
I (don’t) care: 신경 (안) 쓰다
You can use “신경 (안) 쓰다” to mean “I care” or “I don’t care.” It makes more sense to learn the negative (신경 안 쓰다) form first, so I will talk about that now.
When you are just talking about not caring about a noun, you simply attach “에 대해” to the noun that you do not care about. For example:
저는 돈에 대해 신경(을) 안 써요 = I don’t care about money
저는 그에 대해 별로 신경(을) 안 써요 = I don’t really care about that
그는 자기 아버지에 대해 신경(을) 안 써 = He doesn’t care about his father
When the thing that you do not care about is a sentence (for example: I don’t care if you listen to me), you can use 는 것 to change the sentence into a noun. You then must attach the object particle “을/를” to “것” instead of “에 대해” For example:
나는 나의 여자 친구가 많이 먹는 것을 신경(을) 안 써 = I don’t care if my girlfriend eats a lot
나는 네가 공부를 안 하는 것을 신경(을) 안 써 = I don’t care if you don’t study
Notice in the examples above that  “을/를” can also be attached to신경. Sentences with 신경are the only cases that I know about where the object particle을/를 can be added to two nouns in a sentence.
Don’t be confused, there are only two object particles (not three) in this sentence:
나는 네가 공부를 안 하는 것을 신경(을) 안 써 = I don’t care if you don’t study
The “를” attached to “공부” is the object particle in this part of the sentence:
네가 공부를 안 한다. The two object particles are the ones after는 것 and after신경:
나는 네가 공부를 안 하는 것을 신경(을) 안 써 = I don’t care if you don’t study
Anyways, all of that isn’t too important. Just be aware that it is acceptable to attach “을/를” to 신경 as well as the 는 것 noun in the sentence.
If the sentence that you do not care about contains a question word, you should use “지” as the noun instead of “것.” You should know that “을/를” is rarely (if ever) attached to 지. Some examples of this usage:
나는 이 게 얼마나 비싼 지 신경(을)  안 써 = I don’t care how expensive it is
나는 네가 어디 가는 지 신경(을)  안 써 = I don’t care where you go
나는 네가 영어를 얼마나 잘 할 수 있는 지 신경을 안 써 = I don’t care how well you can speak English
Notice that these examples are very similar in meaning (and construction) to the concept you learned in the previous lessons 상관없다:
나는 이 게 얼마나 비싼 지 상관없어 = It is irrelevant how expensive it is
나는 네가 어디 가든 지 상관없어 = It is irrelevant where you go
네가 영어를 얼마나 잘 할 수 있는 지 상관없어 = It is irrelevant how well you can speak English
Just like with “상관없다” sentences, you can also use the grammatical principle아/어도 on the sentence that you do not care about. For example:
나는 네가 어디 가도 신경(을) 안 써 = I don’t care where you go
나는 네가 영어를 잘 할 수 있어도 신경(을) 안 써 = I don’t care if you can speak English well
~아/어도 …신경(을) 안 써 can also be used in sentences without question words:
저는 우리가 내일 안 가도 신경을 안 써요 = I don’t care if we go tomorrow
저는 아버지가 안 와도 신경을 안 써요 = I don’t care if dad comes
It’s all pretty confusing, but I’ll go through it all step by step one more time:
- You can use “신경 안 쓰다” to mean “I don’t care.”
- When the thing you don’t care about is simply a noun, attach “에 대해” to the noun
- When the thing you don’t care about is a sentence ending in “는 것,” attach “을/를” to the noun
- When the thing you don’t care about has a question word in the sentence, use “지” as the noun, with no particle.
- You can use “아/어도” before “신경 안 쓰다” as well
That’s the basic breakdown of saying “I don’t care.” But what about “I care?” I will talk about this in the next section.
I care:  신경을 쓰다
Though you can make negative sentences in Korean using “신경 안 쓰다,” you can’t really make positive sentences by taking out “안.” Look at the following examples:
Negative:
그는 자기 아버지에 대해 신경(을) 안 써 = He doesn’t care about his father
Positive:
그는 자기 아버지에 대해 신경 써 would be more naturally said as:
그는 자기 아버지를 좋아해 = He likes his father
Negative:
나는 나의 여자 친구가 많이 먹는 것을 신경(을) 안 써 = I don’t care if my girlfriend eats a lot
Positive:
나는 나의 여자 친구가 많이 먹는 것을 신경 써 would be more naturally said as:
나는 나의 여자 친구가 많이 먹는 것이 싫어 = I don’t want my girlfriend to eat a lot
What I am trying to say, is that there are always better (more natural ways) to say the opposite of신경 안 쓰다. Using “신경 안 쓰다” in a positive way (without안) is almost always unnatural. The only time this form is acceptable is when you are using it in the imperative voice (when telling somebody what to do). For example:
남동생에게 신경 써! = Show some care towards your younger brother!
신경 쓰지 마세요 = Don’t worry about it!