Korean Lesson 1


How to say something is
and something isn’t
in Korean
 Something is…

 In English we would say something is or isn’t something.
 For example I am not a boy. This is a car. That is a house.

 The verb for ‘to be’ in Korean is 이다 (i-da)

 The verb used when something isn’t something is 아니다 (a-ni-

da)

 (One note is that all Korean verbs have 다 (da) added to the
end of them. But when using the verbs in a sentence you always
drop the 다 from the end.)
 이다

 When something is something this is how you would
put it into a sentence.
 In Korean you would say the Noun followed by the
polite form of ‘to be’ 이에요 (i-eyo) if it ends in a 받
침 (a consonant) and 예요 (yeyo) if it ends in a
vowel.
 지하철 (Ji-ha-Cheol)

Examples of 이다

 지하철 + 이다 = 지하  This is a train.
철이에요

 김치 + 이다 =  This is kimchi.
김치예요

김치
 이 / 가 아니다

 When something isn’t you would use a form like
this.
 You would first tell whether or not the word ends in
a 받침 (a consonant) if it does then you add the
subject marker 이 and if it doesn’t end in a
consonant then you add the subject marker 가 .
 (we will talk about subject markers in detail later)
 After you add the subject marker to the word then
you add the polite form of 아니다 which is 아니에
요.
 Examples of 이 / 가 아니다

 홍차 + 가 아니다 = 홍  (This)* is not black tea.
차가 아니에요 .

 책상 + 이 아니다 = 책  (This) is not a desk.

상이 아니에요 .

*One thing to note is that this isn’t in the Korean translations

because this is implied in the given sentences.
 Review

 To be in Korean?  이다 !!
 To not be?  아니다 !!
 기차표 + 이 / 가 아니  기차표가 아니에요 .
다?  술이에요 .
 술 + 이다 ?  사람이 아니에요 .
 사람 + 이 / 가 아니  전화예요 .
다?
 전화 + 이다 ?
 End of lesson vocab…


 지하철 (Jihajeol)………………….  Train
 홍차 (Hong cha)………………….  Black Tea
 책상 (Chaeksang)………………...
 Desk
 술 (Sul)…………………………….
 Alcohol
 기차표 (Gichapyo)…………..........
 사람 (Saram)…………………........  Table
 전화 (Jonhwa)…………………….  Person
 이다 (i-da)…………………............  Phone
 아니다 (a ni da)…...........................  (v).To be
 이 / 가 (i/ga)…………………….....  (v.)To not be
 (Grammar)Subject markers