LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

TO NOT LIKE: 싫어하다 AND 싫다

While we are talking about negative words, I want to talk about 싫어하다 quickly. "싫어하다" is a verb that is used to indicate that one dislikes something. 싫어하다 is the opposite of 좋아하다 (to like). For example:

저는 과일을 싫어해요 - I dislike fruit
저는 과일을 좋아해요 - I like fruit

You learned how 좋다 and 좋아하다 are different. I explained that 좋다 is an adjective (meaning "to be good"), and thus cannot act on an object. For example:

그 선생님은 좋다 - That teacher is good

이 학교는 좋다 - This school is good

The adjective form of 싫어하다 is 싫다. However, contrary to what you probably expect, 싫다 is not used to mean "to not be good." In order to indicate that something is "not good" (i.e. "bad"), the adjective 나쁘다 is commonly used. Instead, 싫다 is often used to indicate that one dislikes something (just like 싫어하다). For example:

저는 과일이 싫어요 - I dislike fruit

Notice that because 싫다 is an adjective, it cannot act on an object, so the particles ~이/가 are attached to the noun. This type of sentence is a little bit too complex right now, so I don't want to dig too deep into it.

Be careful to not make double negative sentences. Although technically grammatically correct, this one reads funny:

저는 과일을 싫어하지 않아요
= I don't dislike fruit