I Couldn’t Study So Much
공부를조금밖에 못 했어요
[Kongbureul chogeumbakke mot haesseoyo.]

Negations

How are you? Full of energy and ready to learn new things? Excellent! But first, I gave you my word in the last chapter that we’d look more in depth at how to make negations in Korean. Remember? And yes, I always keep my word (except when I don’t ^^).

I know you already know some ways of making negations. First of all, there’s the negative form of the verb ending -아니, “to be.” Wow, yeah, I’m reaching pretty far back for this one, but we went over it in chapter 12, right? That negative form is the independent adjective 아니 다. And then, in the same chapter, you learned the negative form of 있다 (also meaning “to be”), which is 없다. Now, that brings us back to the end of the last chapter, when I showed you the expression 할수 없다, for “I can’t.” And we also looked at 할 줄 모르다, meaning “I don’t know how to.” Remember, the verb 모르다 is the opposite of 일니 (“to know”).

Okay, but those are set negative phrases, with set meanings. Isn’t there a way to turn any phrase from a positive to a negative, you might ask? Well, lucky you—there is! And, even better, it’s really easy to learn and use, because it’s not a conjugative ending. All you have to do is add the word 안 or 못 before the verb (안 can also be used with adjectives, but 못 can’t). That’s it!

But why are there two different words you can use? Well, there’s actually a difference in meaning between 안 and 못. Allow me to show by example. Say you had been invited to attend your friend’s birthday party that took place yesterday, but you didn’t go:

어제 규병 씨의 생일 파티에 갔어요 [Eoje kyubyong ssiui saengil patie kasseoyo?] Did you go to
Kyubyong’s birthday party yesterday?

아니요, 안 갔어요. [Aniyo, an kasseoyo.] No, I didn’t go (because I hate him and chose not to).

아니요, 못 갔어요. [Aniyo, mot kasseoyo.] No, I couldn’t go (because there was an earthquake, but I really wanted to go).

Don’t worry. Earthquakes seldom occur in Korea. ^;^ Anyway, as you can see, 안 applies more to the speaker’s intention or conscious choice, while 못 is related to ability. So, now you can answer our question from the last chapter using 안 or 못.

한국말 할 수 있으세요 [Hangungmal hal su isseuseyo?] Can you speak Korean?

아뇨, 못해요. [Anyo, mot haeyo.] No, I can’t (I don’t have the ability).

Hey, you’re going to make me cry! I know you can speak Korean!

안 vs. 못: two scenes

Let’s get in a little more practice with 안 and 못, shall we? Here are two scenarios to help you learn.

Scene #1: You run into your friend early one morning, and he notices the dark circles around your eyes:

어젯밤에 잘 잤어요 [Eojetbame chal chasseoyo?] Did you sleep well last night?

아뇨, 잠이 안 와서 한숨도 못 잤어요. [Anyo, chami an waseo hansumdo mot chasseoyo.] No, I couldn’t sleep a wink because the Sandman didn’t come to me.

In Korean, there’s a widely known expression: 잠이 오다/잠이 안 오다. It translates literally as “Sleep comes to me” / “Sleep doesn’t come to me.” But nobody says 잠이 못 오다 for the negative version, because no one’s actually preventing the Sandman from coming to you. He just chooses not to come. He’s a busy guy, I guess. And so you’re stuck with no sleep.

On the other hand, 잠유 못 어 요 is also correct, meaning “I couldn’t (didn’t have the ability to) sleep.” If you use 안 in this expression, saying 잠을잤어요, it implies that you didn’t sleep because you just don’t like to sleep. But who doesn’t like sleep!?

Scene #2: There’s an important exam in class today, and you see a classmate approaching you to ask a question:

시험 공부 많이 했어요 [Shiheom kongbu mani haesseoyo?] Did you study for the exam?

There are three possible kinds of answers to this question. Pay close attention as I explain them, but don’t worry—there won’t be an exam at the end…or will there?

1. 너, 두 시간이나 했어요. [Ne, tu shiganina haesseoyo.] Yes, I did as many as two hours.

(This answer is expressing pride, as if usually you don’t study at all! But I’m sure that’s not true, is it?)

2. 아니요, 전혀 안 했어요. [Aniyo, cheonhyeo an haesseoyo.] No, I didn’t study at all.

(Oh, now you’re just trying to show off, pretending as if you knew it all already and didn’t need to study! Ha! But I bet you actually studied a lot.)

3. 아니요, 바깥이 시끄러워서 조금밖에 못 했어요. [Aniyo, pakkachi shikkeureoweoseo chogeumbakke mot haesseoyo.] No, I couldn’t study much because it was really noisy outside.

(Okay, this is your most strategic answer. Now, if you fail, you have an excuse—you couldn’t study! But actually, I bet this is another little white lie and you actually did study a lot. You just don’t want to admit it. In fact, I happen to know you live in a very quiet neighborhood!)

Hey, check it out, you just learned some new particles! -(이) 나 emphasizes that the amount or extent (the noun it attaches to) is relatively large. Conversely, -밖에 shows that it’s small, although literally it has the meaning of “with the exception of.” So 조금밖에 못 했어요 can be translated as “I couldn’t do it with the exception of a little.” But in common usage it carries the meaning of “I couldn’t do very much” or “I could do only a little.”

Both of these particles are very effective and economic little additions that help express what the speaker is feeling. For instance, if you say 공부를 ₃₀ 분이나 했어요, you’re implying that you think 30 minutes is a lot of time to spend studying; change this to 공부를 ₃₀ 분밖에 못 했어요, though, and your meaning becomes the opposite. Interesting, huh?

-지 않다/못하다

By now, I bet you’re quite surprised at how simple it is to create negatives in Korean. Hey, we take these little victories when we can get them, right? Well, I don’t want to crash your party, but there’s just one more method of negation construction that I want to go over. Don’t think of this as a burden, but rather as a bonus. Are you with me?

So, what we already learned in this chapter was the short-form negation, and, as you saw, it didn’t involve any new conjugative endings. Well, what’s the one thing you can probably guess about its counterpart, the long-form negation? Uh-huh, it uses an ending! But really, this isn’t so bad, as it belongs to pattern 1. And what’s great about pattern 1? Right, it’s the simplest, because you can just stick the ending on any old verb or adjective stem without worrying about changes taking place.

Alright, and just like there were two versions of the short-form negation (using 안 and 못), there are, correspondingly, two versions of the long form. Watch and learn:

It’s easy to see that both of the long-form negation endings use ᅳ지, which, like I said, gets put right on the end of the stem, no matter what. And then you add 않다 if you want the meaning of conscious intent, or the verb 못하다 to signify a lack of ability. ᅳ지않다 corresponds to 안…, and ᅳ지못하다 is the same as 못… See?

But, um, why would you ever want to use this long form when the short-form negations are so much easier (admit it though, both are pretty simple!)? Well, the long form is more formal, and it’s used a lot in written language. Here’s a quick comparison of the short and long forms negating an adjective (remember, adjectives can’t be negated with 못 in either short or long forms):

한국어는 안 어려워요. [Hangugeoneun an eoryeoweoyo.] The Korean language is not difficult.

한국어는 어렵지 않아요. [Hangugeoneun eoryeopji anayo.] The Korean language is not difficult.

And here are two sentences that utilize both the 안 and 못 negations, the first in the short form, and the second in the long form:

몸이 안 좋아서 오늘 회사에 못 갔어요. [Momi an choaseo oneul hoesae mot kasseoyo.] I was sick so I couldn’t go to the office today.

몸이 좋지 않아서 오늘 회사에 가지 못했어요. [Momi chochi anaseo oneul hoesae kaji

motaesseoyo.] I was sick so I couldn’t go to the office today.

Note that in English when you feel sick, you say you don’t feel good. In Korean, though, your body is not good.

Hmm…what’s wrong? You have a bad headache and are running a fever? Wow, I feel really bad for you. I suggest that you get some rest now. And then, when you feel better, I suggest that you read the next chapter. Any guesses what we’ll be talking about?

Korean Style: Word relay

Have you ever played this game? You choose a certain category—say, celebrities. And then you and a friend or friends go back and forth naming celebrities. But each name has to start with the same letter that the previous name ended with. For example, Tom Cruise → Eddie Murphy → Yasmine Bleeth →…

There’s a similar game in Korean called 끝말잇기 [kkeunmaritgi]. The difference is that instead of relaying the last letter, it’s the final syllable of a word that gets carried over. This game is too difficult if you limit it to only one category, so usually you can use any word you want.

For example, 남자 [namja] (“man”) → 자연 [chayeon] (“nature”) → 연습 [yeonseup] (“practice”) → 습관 [seupgwan] (“habit”) → 관광 [kwangwang] (“tour”) →…

One way to change the game would be to limit it to only three-syllable words, or even by relaying the middle syllable of a three-syllable word, like this: 전화지 [cheonhwagi] (“telephone”) → 화장지 [hwajangji] (“tissue”) → 장난감 [changnangam] (“toy”) →…

It’s pretty simple, but Koreans like this game a lot. And if you play it, I bet you’ll learn lots of new words very quickly. If you do ever have the opportunity to join in, let me tell you the key to victory. There aren’t any words in Korean that begin with the syllable 름 [reum]. Because of this, if you can find a word ending with 름, you’ll definitely win. Let’s see, there’s 지 름 [chireum] (“diameter”), 여 드름 [yeodeureum] (“pimple”), 고드름 [kodeureum] (“icicle”), 여름 [yeoreum] (“summer”), 지름 [kireum] (“oil”)…