LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

NEGATIVE SENTENCES

There are two ways you can make a sentence negative:

1. By adding 안, which acts as an adverb in the sentence. 안 is typically placed immediately before the final verb or adjective. For example:

그 여자는 안 예뻐요 - That girl isn't pretty
저는 생선을 안 좋아해요 - I don't like fish
저는 내일 학교에 안 가겠어요 - I'm not going to school tomorrow

2. By adding ~지 않다 to the stem of the final verb or adjective. 않다 then becomes the verb or adjective in that sentence and must be conjugated accordingly. For example:

그 여자는 예쁘지 않아요 - That girl isn't pretty
저는 생선을 좋아하지 않아요 - I don't like fish
저는 내일 학교에 가지 않겠어요 - I'm not going to school tomorrow

Their respective meanings are identical. It is up to the speaker to decide which one will be used. There are times when it will be more natural to use "안" and there will be times when it will be more natural to use "~지 않다." At this point, you can consider them the same. Throughout your studies you will constantly be exposed to 안 and ~지 않다, and through this exposure you can gradually develop a preference for which one should be used and in which circumstance.

I like to share my observations that I have made through my experiences with the Korean language. I think this can be helpful to learners as they struggle to understand when to use some grammatical principles over others. There are a few things I would like to talk about regarding these negative sentences.

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As you know, most verbs ending in ~하다 can be turned into a noun-form of that verb by removing ~하다. For example:

공부하다 - to study
공부 - the noun form of "study"

실수하다 - to make a mistake
실수 - a mistake

여행하다 - to travel
여행 - a trip

When indicating that one "does not do" a ~하다 verb, it is common to separate ~하다 from the noun and place "안" in between them. For example:

저는 공부를 안 했어요 - I didn't study
Instead of:
저는 안 공부했어요

저는 실수를 안 했어요 - I didn't make (do) a mistake
Instead of:
저는 안 실수했어요

저는 여행을 안 했어요 - I didn't travel
Instead of:
저는 안 여행했어요

It would also be appropriate to use the ~지 않다 form with these words. However, in these cases, it doesn't matter if the noun is separated from ~하다 or not. For example:

저는 공부하지 않았어요 - I didn't study
저는 공부를 하지 않았어요 - I didn't study

저는 실수하지 않았어요 - I didn't make a mistake
저는 실수를 하지 않았어요 - I didn't make a mistake

저는 여행하지 않았어요 - I didn't travel
저는 여행을 하지 않았어요 - I didn't travel

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Many adjectives end in ~하다. It is unnatural to remove the ~하다 in these words and place "안" between them. You can't separate an adjective and "act" on it with ~하다 because they are adjectives. For example, the following would be incorrect:

저는 행복을 안 해요 (This does not mean "I am not happy")

However, you could use ~지 않다 on a -하다 adjective or place "안" before the verb without separating it. For example:

저는 안 행복해요 - I am not happy
저는 행복하지 않아요 - I am not happy

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I have had people ask me about the word order of sentences using an adverb and the negative adverb "안". One learner asked me if this sentence would be okay:

저는 빨리 안 공부했어요

While it might be understood, this sentence sounds very awkward in Korean. The reason is probably due to the fact that there are two adverbs being used. In this sentence, both "빨리" and "안" act as adverbs that indicate the degree to which the studying was done. As I mentioned earlier, this usually isn't done in Korean. Instead, if you wanted to express that meaning, you can use the ~지않다 negative addition instead. By doing this, you effectively remove one of the adverbs and are left with:

저는 빨리 공부하지 않았어요 - I didn't study quickly

Even still, though. This sentence could still be a little awkward in Korean – because when would you ever say "I didn't study quickly"? In most cases, it would be more natural to simply use an adverb that has the opposite meaning. For example, this sentence:

저는 밥을 빨리 먹지 않았어요 - I didn't eat (rice) quickly

Would be more naturally said as:
저는 밥을 천천히 먹었어요 - I ate rice slowly