매튜의 한국어 연습 블로그

You've been there. Constructing a sentence and when pressed to spell "not" as in "안 했어요" you pause for a moment and wonder... should you spell it "않 했어요" instead? Which one is correct? You've seen both, haven't you?

Sort of. They have the same basic meaning but a different usage.
'안'한다 (don't) - 하지 '않'는다 (don't)

안 할게요
I won't

안 합니다
I don't

안 했어요
I didn't

안 잤어요
I didn't sleep

안 갈거야
I'm not going

아직 안 왔어요
She/he hasn't come yet.

안 먹어?
You're not eating?


않다 also indicates negation but in a different sense

제가 하지 않았습니다
I didn't do that.

그렇게 하지 않나요?
Don't you do it like that?

다시는 실수하지 않겠습니다.
I won't make a mistake again.

먼저 가지 않을게요.
I won't go first.

쉽지 않아요
It's not easy


So in the first example, it is indeed 안 했어요 but do keep in mind that 않다 is its own thing and that it has a place. When I'm questioning it, I think to myself of the placement of 안 or 않. If it's in front of an action verb like 하다 or 가다 I use 안 as in: 공부 안 했다 or 학교 안 가. Where it gets fuzzy is situations like "aren't you tired?" where the message can be conveyed two different ways:

피곤하지않아요?
안 피곤 해요?

just watch your 안s and you'll be fine. More examples:

안 먹어요
안 자요
안 예뻐요
안 추워요

먹지 않아요
자지 않아요
예쁘지 않아요
춥지 않아요

Thus concludes another Korean Grammar You Should Already Know.

The great divider.

답장을 안 보내서 미안해요
답장을 못 보내서 미안해요

How would you literally define these two sentences?

"Since I didn't send you a response, I'm sorry."
"Since I couldn't send you a response, I'm sorry."

But, the former is most natural in English, right? "Sorry I didn't respond to you sooner" is the feeling you want to express. However, it may not come off like that in Korean. Dare I say it would make matters worse if you chose the former instead if the latter.

안 means "not" as in 안 했어 I didn't (숙제 안 했어 I didn't do my homework)
못 means "can't" as in 못 했어 I couldn't (중국어 목 해요 I can't speak Chinese)

But, in Korean, these don't translate exactly over 1:1. They don't always mean that.

안 carries the feeling that you had the opportunity and yet you chose not to do so. 못, on the other hand, feels like the choice was not up to you and that outside powers prevented you from doing whatever it was you were supposed to do.

문자 못 보내서 미안 would be much more appropriate to a significant other than saying
문자 안 보내서 미안 would would indicate that yes, you could have sent her a text message but you chose not to. what of it?

Culturally speaking, it's a bit different. In English, unless someone holds a gun to your head, no one makes you not do something. So, if you didn't send her a text, you could say with solemn regard that although you chose not to, you are sorry. No one made you not send it, right? You were having fun with your friends and you lost track of time. No biggie right?

In Korean, it is a whole lot sweeter to say that you were unable to send it. It carries that same feeling that you are indeed sorry for not touching base but think not of it like "I was physically unable because the phone was broke" instead, think of it as "I totally lost track of time" or "정신 없어요". So, although it doesn't mean the exact same in English, the difference is enough to point out.

Another example that is even more curious is 아직 못 봤어요. This seemingly means "I was not able to see it yet" but it really means "I haven't seen it yet." The situation: a coworker asks you if you have seen the new summer blockbuster movie. You casually reply that you haven't seen it yet. Of course you've had time to see it. It's been out for a week or so. You have time after work but you chose not to go see the film. No harm in that. However, replying "아직 안 봤어요" while not grammatically wrong, is not as common as saying "아작 못 봤어요". The idea is that you do want to see it but you haven't had the chance yet. You'll see it soon enough, though.

In summation, Koreans lie have a different way of expressing this type of feeling.

Last like when we looked at the "any~" prefix, this time it'll be the "no~" prefix as in:

아무도 Nobody
아무것도 Nothing
아무데서도 Nowhere (에서)
아무데도 Nowhere (에)
아무에게도 (to) Nobody
아무한테서도 (to) Nobody


Examples:
I don't want to talk to anybody (nobody).*
아무도 얘기하고 싶지 않아.

I"m not going anywhere (nowhere).
아무데도 안 가요.

You can smoke nowhere in this building.
아무데서도 담배를 피우지마세요

I wasn't doing anything.
아무것도 안 했어요


Like other negations (부정) the pattern is recognizable in "도". Compare this to the "나" in "any~" as in:

아무도 Nobody
아무나 Anybody

아무것도 Nothing
아무나요 Anything

아무데서도 Nowhere
아무데서나 Anywhere



*Remember that double negatives are acceptable in Korean

Hanja to the rescue! 불- (한자: 不) is a nice little guy who fills in the prefix role of -un, -dis, -ir, -non, and the like. Slip him in front of many hanja based words and you've got the opposite. Negation at it's easiest. Examples:

가능하다 to be possible
불가능하다 to be impossible
예) 회의가 불가능할 것 같아요
예) 회의를 못 할 것 같아요.
Ex) I can't make it to the meeting.

규칙 (명사) rule, 규칙적인 (형용사) regular
불규칙적인 (adjective) irregular
예) "만들다"는 불규칙 동사이지요?
Ex) Isn't "만들다" an irregular verb?

합격하다 to pass a test
불합격하다 to fail a test
예) 중간고사를 못 봤어요. 불합격할 테니까 이제 수업을그만둘거에요.
Ex) I bombed the midterm. Since I'm pretty sure I'm going to fail, I'm just going to drop (quit) the class.

편하다 to be comfortable
불편하다 to be uncomfortable
예) 이 옷은 불편해요.
Ex) These clothes are uncomfortable.

법적인 legal
불법적인 illegal
예) 영화나 노래를 인터넷에서 다운로드 하는 것은 불법이에요.
Ex) Downloading movies or music off of the internet is illegal.