Conjugating 있다 and 있다
You learned in Lesson 2 that there are two meanings for the word 있다.
One of the meanings is "to have" and is considered an adjective. You learned these sentences in Lesson 2:
나는 펜이 있다 = I have a pen
나는 차가 있다 = I have a car
나는 가방이 있다 = I have a bag
Because this 있다 is considered an adjective, we follow the rule for conjugating an adjective to the present tense – which is do nothing and leave the adjective the way it is. So, those three sentences above are perfectly conjugated and grammatically correct.
But, the other meaning of 있다 is "to be in/at a location" and is considered a verb. You learned these sentences inLesson 2:
나는 은행 안에 있다 = I am inside the bank
개는 집 안에 있다 = The dog is in the house
고양이는 의자 밑에 있다 = The cat is under the chair
Because this 있다 is considered a verb, we follow the rule for conjugating a verb to the present tense – which is add ~ㄴ/는다 to the stem of the verb. So, the three sentences above are not yet conjugated and are grammatically incorrect. In order to make them correct, we must conjugate them:
나는 은행 안에 있는다 = I am inside the bank
개는 집 안에 있는다 = The dog is in the house
고양이는 의자 밑에 있는다 = The cat is under the chair
BUT! Though this is true, Korean people would still say "나는 학교에 있다" and not see anything wrong with it. In fact, it is actually more common to use 있다 instead of 있는다 in these sentences.
The reverse, however, is not true. You could never substitute 있는다 for 있다:
나는 돈이 있다 = okay
나는 돈이 있는다 = incorrect
나는 학교에 있는다 = grammatically correct, not used in conversation
나는 학교에 있다 = used in conversation more than the above example
Wow, that is a lot of grammar. Understanding this will probably be your the hardest step you will need to make in learning Korean. I really mean that. If you can get through this lesson, almost everything you will learn will relate back to the principles in this lesson in one way or another. Don't give up!
