Let's Learn Korean/ Hangul!! (한국어 / 한글을 배우자 !!) LEVEL1 [COMPLETE]

Lesson 10

In this lesson, we are going to have a look at the expressions

"있어요" [i-sseo-yo] and "없어요" [eop-sseo-yo]

When you want to talk about what people HAVE/DON'T HAVE, and also about things that EXISTS/DOESN'T EXIST, you can use these expressions. 

있어요 [i-sseo-yo] comes from 있다 [it-da], and it basically expresses that something exists.

If you are talking about someone or something existing in a specific place, it means "to be"

Ex) I am here. / It's over there. / I am at home now. 

If you are talking about something (or someone in some cases) in your possession, it means "to have" 

Ex) I have a sister. / I have eleven dogs. / Do you have a private airplane?

And 없어요 [eop-sseo-yo] is the opposite, and it comes from the verb 없다 [eop-da]. Even though there IS a way to say the same thing, using 있어요 and making into a negative sentence, since there is this independent verb in Korean (없어요) for expression non-existence, it's more convenient to use 없어요 rather than saying 있지 않아요 or 안 있어요 (we'll learn these form in a later lesson to come.)

So, in conclusion,
있어요 [i-sseo-yo] 
<-->
없어요 [eop-sseo-yo]

Let's look at more examples!
있어요 [i-sseo-yo]

And in our examples, let's use the following words:
물 [mul] = water / 친구 [chin-gu] = friend / 시간 [si-gan] = time

You simply add 있어요 at the end of the noun that you are referring to.

1. 물 있어요. [mul i-sseo-yo] = There is water. / Water exists. / I have water. / They have water.

2. 물 있어요? [mul i-sseo-yo?] = Is there water? / Do you have water? / Do they have water?

3. 친구 있어요. [chin-gu i-sseo-yo] = I have friends. / I have a friend. / There are friends.

4. 친구 있어요? [chin-gu i-sseo-yo?] = Do you have friends? / Do they have friends?

5. 시간 있어요. [si-gan i-sseo-yo] = There is time. / I have time. / They have time.

6. 시간 있어요? [si-gan i-sseo-yo?] = Is there time? / Do you have time? / Do they have time?

And just by replacing 있어요 [i-sseo-yo] with 없어요 [eops-eo-yo] you get sentences in the opposite meanings. 

없어요 [eop-sseo-yo] 

1. 시간 없어요. [si-gan eop-sseo-yo] = There is no time. / I don't have time. / We don't have time. 

2. 친구 없어요. [chin-gu eop-sseo-yo] = I don't have friends. 

Review Time 

Do you remember the usages of 은/는 [eun/neun], the topic marking particles and 이/가 [i/ga], the subject marking particles? 

은 and 는 mark the topic of a sentence, and at the same time emphasize the contrast between the topic of the sentence and the other things. 

So if you say 시간 없어요. [si-gan eops-eo-yo] that means "I don't have time." and if you want to say, "I have other things but just TIME is not what I have." you can say that simply by add 은 [eun] or 는 [neun] at the end of 시간 [si-gan] (but in this case, 시간 ends with a last consonant so 은 is used), that becomes 시간은 없어요. 

And if someone asks you "What is it that you don't have? What are you saying that you don't have?" you can answer that question by saying "TIME. Time is what I don't have." and that can be expressed through 시간이 없어요. 

있어요 and 없어요 can be used to form many interesting and frequently used expressions in Korean. 

재미 [jae-mi] = fun
재미 + 있어요 = 재미있어요 literally means "fun exists" but it means "to be interesting" 

**Notice how the two words are even written without any space in between. That's because it has already become an expression used daily