Level 10 Lesson 29 

Double Negative = Positive / 없지 않다, 없지 않아 있다 

In this lesson, we are going to take a look at a unique kind of affirmation done through a 
없지 않다 and 없지 않아 있다. They 
double negative sentence. The expressions we will study are
basically mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably, so let us mainly look at 없지 
않다 closely. 
 
없지 않다 
없다 means “to not exist” and -지 않다 makes a negative sentence. So 없지 않다 means “it does 
NOT not exist” and therefore “it does exist”. This is common in Korean because 없다 is a 
stand-alone verb in itself, unlike in English where 없다 is just expressed through a negative 
form of 있다(= to exist).  
 
The structure of없지 않다 is similar to 작지 않다(to be not small) being used to say “It is big.” or 
쉽지 않다(to be not easy) being used to say “It is difficult.” You use 없지 않다 or 없지 않아 있다 to 
say “있다" in a softer and careful manner, and it is also often used in the form of 없지 않죠 or 없지 
않아 있죠, to express agreement with what someone has just said.  
 
Examples 
 
그런 경우가 없지 않아요.  
= That does happen from time to time.  
= There are such cases from time to time.  
= 그런 경우가 가끔 있어요.  
 
위험 요소가 없지 않죠. 
= There is definitely some risk. 
= There is a risk to a degree.  
= 위험 요소가 어느 정도 있죠.  
* 위험 요소 = risk factor 
 
 

 
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Commonly used together with 없지 않다  
 
Some words are frequently used with the expression없지 않다 or 없지 않아 있다 and they are 
감(feeling, sensation), 느낌(sensation), 경우(case), 경향(tendency), 부분(part), and 면(aspect).  
 
으 느 ㄴ 감이 없지 않다 = It does feel like … 
Verb stem + -( / )
Verb stem + -(으/느)ㄴ 느낌이 없지 않다 = It does feel like … 
Verb stem + -(으/느)ㄴ 경우가 없지 않다 = There are certainly some cases where … 
Verb stem + -(으/느)ㄴ 경향이 없지 않다 = There is some tendency to ... 
Verb stem + -(으/느)ㄴ 부분이 없지 않다 = There are some parts that …  
Verb stem + -(으/ㄴ)ㄴ 면이 없지 않다 = There are some aspects where …  
 
것 is also quite commonly used with 없지 않다, like 
In addition to these words, the word
-(으/느)ㄴ 게 없지 않다, and in this case, 것(used in the shortened form of 게 instead of 것이) has 
the same meaning as 부분(part) or 면(aspect). 
 
And another expression commonly used with 없지 않다 is 아무래도, which means “after much 
thought”, “no matter what I try”, or “I cannot deny”. It is used either in the beginning of the 
sentence like “ 아무래도 그런 면이 없지 않죠.” or right before 없지 않다 like “그런 면이 아무래도 없지 
않죠.”  
 
Sample Sentences 
 
그런 우려가 없지 않아 있죠. 
= There is certainly such a concern.  
= We do have that as a concern.  
* 우려 = concern 
 
좀 비싼 느낌이 없지 않죠. 
= It does feel a bit expensive. 
= I do feel like it’s a bit expensive.  
 
 

 
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사업을 하다 보면 아무래도 손해를 보는 경우가 없지 않죠.  
= As things are with running a business, there are certainly times where you have a deficit.  
= While running a business, there are certainly cases where you lose money.  
* 손해를 보다 = to suffer a loss 
 
그리고 사고가 날 가능성도 없지 않죠.  
= And there is certainly a certain amount of possibility of an accident.  
* 가능성 = possibility 
 
가족이랑 같은 직장에서 일하면 편한 부분도 없지 않아 있죠. 
=  If  you  work  with  a  family  member  at  the  same  workplace,  there  are  certainly  convenient 
aspects, too.  
 
아무래도 그런 면도 없지 않죠. 
= I cannot deny that there are such aspects, too.  
 
솔직히 말하면 그런 게 없지 않죠.  
= Honestly speaking, that is true to an extent. 
= Honestly speaking, that does happen from time to time. 
 
대기업에서는 일 처리 속도가 느린 면이 없지 않죠.  
= At a large corporation, there is certainly a tendency that things get done slowly.  
* 대기업 = large company, conglomerate 
** 처리 = handling, processing 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
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