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LEVEL 2 LESSON 17

After studying with the previous lessons, you can now form various sentence
structures in Korean. Now it’s time to look at how to say that you “can” or “can’t” do
something.

The sentence structure you can use to say that you “can” do something is:
-(으)ㄹ 수 있다 [-(eu)l su it-da]

Example:

보다 = to see
--> 보 + -ㄹ 수 있다 = 볼 수 있다 [bol su it-da] = can see

먹다 = to eat
--> 먹 + -을 수 있다 = 먹을 수 있다 [meo-geul su it-da] = can eat

** Verb stems ending in a vowel is followed by -ㄹ 수 있다 and verb stems ending with a consonant

is followed by -을 수 있다. The difference is whether you have the extra 으 or not in front of -ㄹ 수 있다,

for the ease of pronunciation.

In -(으)ㄹ 수 있다, the word 수 [su] literally means an ‘idea’ or a ‘way’ for solving a
problem or for getting something done, so -(으)ㄹ 수 있다 literally means “to have a
way or an idea for doing” something.

Therefore, when you do NOT have “a way or an idea” for doing something, it means
you can NOT do it, and in Korean it becomes -(으)ㄹ 수 없다, using 없다, the opposite
word of 있다.

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LEVEL 2 LESSON 17

Example:

자다 = to sleep
--> 자 + -ㄹ 수 없다 = 잘 수 없다 [jal su eop-da] = can not sleep
<--> 잘 수 있다 [jal su it-da] = can sleep

잡다 = to catch
--> 잡 + -을 수 없다 = 잡을 수 없다 [ja-beul su eop-da] = can not catch
<--> 잡을 수 있다 [ja-beul su it-da] = can catch

Another way to say -(으)ㄹ 수 없다 is using the word 못 before a verb.

-(으)ㄹ 수 없다 is the basic way to express “can not” but it is not always used in spoken
Korean. A more common way to say “can not” or “to be unable to” in spoken Korean
is adding 못 before a verb.

갈 수 없다 = 못 가다 [verb: 가다] = can not go

볼 수 없다 = 못 보다 [verb: 보다] = can not see
먹을 수 없다 = 못 먹다 [verb: 먹다] = can not eat
할 수 없다 = 못 하다 [verb: 하다] = can not do

Sample sentences

운전 할 수 있어요? [un-jeon hal su i-sseo-yo?]

= Can you drive? (lit. “Can you do driving?”)

일본어 할 수 있어요? [il-bo-neo hal su i-sseo-yo?]

= Can you speak Japanese? (lit. “Can you do Japanese?”)

This PDF is to be used along with the MP3 audio lesson available at
TalkToMeInKorean.com. Please feel free to share TalkToMeInKorean's free
Korean lessons and PDF files with anybody who is studying Korean. If you
have any questions or feedback, visit TalkToMeInKorean.com
TalkToMeInKorean.com - Free Korean Lesson Notes
LEVEL 2 LESSON 17

이거 읽을 수 있어요? [i-geo il-geul su i-sseo-yo?]

= Can you read this?

못 읽어요. [mot il-geo-yo.]

= I can’t read it.

지금 못 만나요. [ji-geum mot man-na-yo.]

= I can’t meet you now.

This PDF is to be used along with the MP3 audio lesson available at
TalkToMeInKorean.com. Please feel free to share TalkToMeInKorean's free
Korean lessons and PDF files with anybody who is studying Korean. If you
have any questions or feedback, visit TalkToMeInKorean.com