In this lesson, we are going to have a look at one way to make a negative sentence. Here, you can learn how to say that something is NOT something, like “It’s not me.” or “It’s not a book.” In Korean, if you want to say that something is NOT something you say the noun and add the expression 아니에요 [a-ni-e-yo] at the end. Listen to the lesson to find out more about this expression and be sure to check out the free PDF file too. If you have any questions, please ask us any questions in the comment! Thank you!
You can read more about 아니다 (a-ni-da) at this Korean Wiki Project page.
You can download a free PDF for this lesson here, or if you want to study with our TalkToMeInKorean textbooks, you can get them here. And after you learn the basics, try writing your own Korean sentences and get corrections from native speakers through HaruKorean, our 1:1 correction service.
Hello! I would like to ask something, when do you include geu-geo in the sentence cause for this two examples, both are talking about the object which is ‘it’, however the first one includes geu-geo while the second one doesn’t.
It is not a cat. = 그거 고양이 아니에요. [geu-geo go-yang-i a-ni-e-yo]
물 아니에요. [mul a-ni-e-yo] = It’s not water.
I believe it depends on whether or not the listener needs clarification on which water you are talking about. If they do, then you would just use either 그, 저, or 이. If the speaker and the listener are both well aware of which water they are talking about, these can be left off. Like when you are in the middle of a discussion about said water, there is no reason to say “this” or “that” when you already know which water.
I’m actually kind of confused, are the words 아니에요 and 아니요 the same?
If not then, when do you use each? Can you use 아니에요 to say “no”, or 아니요 to say it’s not?
Thanks~
아니에요 is the verb, 아니요 is the interjection, I think..!
i am also a bit confused by the words 아니에요 and 아니요. does one act as a qualifier, meaning it is not, and one means “no”? and if so, does that mean that they do have different meanings? I am responding to the comment left by tatiana today asking if the words are interchangeable. thank you so much for your wonderful website. it is such a fantastic teaching tool and I am using it daily
아니에요 basically means ‘is not’ and 아니요 means ‘no’. Like in English, you wouldn’t say ‘this no a cat’ you would say ‘this is not a cat’. So yes, they do have meaning and can’t be used interchangeably with the copula.
Hi… I would like to know the answer too.
Also want to say how much Im enjoy these lessons. Ive bought so many books over time and non have motivated me as much as this site. So easy to understand and relevant. thankyou
thanks for this site! it helps me a lot! very convenient!
jungmal kamsahamnida!
안녕하세요!
감사합니다!!
I was wondering.. if you want to say ”it’s REALLY not me” do you say ‘저 정말 아니에요’? (I’m not sure if I wrote it good :p) Oh and.. do you use punctuation marks in Korean??
By the way, this site is really awesome^^ It was recommended by some other people who are learning Korean and even though I’ve only listened to a few lessons, it helped a lot
Hi Ester,
Yes, we can say “저 정말 아니에요”, and we also use punctuation marks.
Thanks for coming to TTMIK and I hope our site will help you a lot.
선생님들..its out of topic..im curious about this word that i alwys heard..what does 바로 and 더니 mean??
더니 is one of the verb endings and it links the former sentence to the latter sentence.
Mainly, it links the sentence which was the reason or the happening held before to the latter sentence which is the results or the happening held later.
For example)
오랜만에 운동을 했더니 온몸이 쑤신다.
It’s been a while to exercise so my whole body is aching.
is that use with verb stem 선생님??
annyeonghaseyo… i just found out this website and it’s really help full and i enjoy the lesson, thankyou. but i’v some question if i put some adjective for ex ” this movie is not good” how to say it in korean, is it ” i yeonghwa jota anieyo” gamsahamnida..
안녕하세요..
i really enjoy this lesson so much and it’s very help full.. but i’ve question if i want add some adjective for example ” this isn’t good book” how to say it in korean …감사합니…
Hi just wondering but what does ‘옛날꺼?
‘ mean? My friend texted me it and I’m confused, thanks!
bonjours,
merci beaycoup , ces cours m’aident tellement pour l’apprentissage de langue de corée
저 학생 아니에요.
Are these both right for the translation of [저 학생 아니에요. ]
` I am not a student.` / `That is not a student.`
Although the letter is same, the meanings are different.
In the former sentence, the meaning of 저 is “I”, but in the latter sentence, it means “that”.
However, it will be better to translate it like “that student is not the peron (you meant)”.