[Learn Korean E13] “예요/이에요”, ”이/가 아니에요” (Negative Expressions)

안녕하세요. 토미입니다.

Let’s have fun learning a wonderful language, Korean!
The theme of today’s class is [이 사진은 무슨 사진이에요?] “What photo is this?”

The grammar we will learn is [예요/이에요(It is~) and 、이/가 아니에요(It is not~)].

I design my lessons for students who will take TOPIK 1, level 1 and 2 in the future.
By learning my lessons step by step, I am sure I can guide you to pass the test.
So, be confident, and let’s become the super master of Korean!

Let me explain how I will proceed with today’s class.

First, we will listen to a conversation with English subtitles.
Then, I will explain the vocabulary, phrases, and grammar.

Next, we will listen to the conversation again but this time without English subtitles. Once you understand the content of the conversation, we will practice reading it aloud.

At the end, I will give you your favorite assignments!
Let’s study hard until the end, picturing ourselves shining brightly speaking Korean fluently!

그럼 시작할게요.

Listen to the Conversation

The title of today’s conversation is 【이 사진은 무슨 사진이에요?】
It’s a scene where Tammy is asking a lot of questions after seeing the photo that Sangmin has.
First of all, let’s listen to the conversation with English subtitles.
그럼 들어 보세요!

• 토미：상민 씨, 이 사진은 무슨 사진이에요?
  Tammy : Sangmin, what photo is this?
• 상민：그것은 제 고향 사진이에요. 그곳은 강원도예요.
  Sangmin : It is a photo of my hometown. That place is Kangwon-do.
• 토미：강원도는 한국의 남쪽이 아니에요?
  Tammy : Isn’t Kangwon-do in the southern part of Korea?
• 상민：아니에요. 북쪽이에요. 거기에는 골프장이나 스키장이 많습니다.
  Sangmin : No. It’s in the northern part. There are many golf courses and ski resorts there.

Vocabulary and Phrases

Next, I will explain the vocabularies and phrases while reviewing the conversation one sentence at a time.

• 토미： 상민 씨, 이 사진은 무슨 사진이에요?

The word [이] means “this.”
[이, 그, 저] are “this, that, which is close from you, and that, which is far away from you” .

“Which” is [어느] in Korean. We learned these before, right?

[사진] is “photo.”
[기념 사진] means “commemorative photo,” and [가족 사진] is “family photo.”
If you say [사진을 찍다], it means “take a photo.”

• 상민：그것은 제 고향 사진이에요. 그곳은 강원도예요.

[고향] means “hometown.”
There is also a word with a similar meaning, [시골] which means “countryside.”
The word [곳] means “place.”
If you add [곳] after [이, 그, 저] that you just learned few minutes ago, it becomes [이곳] “this place,” [그곳] “that place (close),” and [저곳] “that place (far).”
It sounds very similar to [이것, 그것, 저것], so please be careful with the pronunciation.
When you pronounce [곳], you make your mouth as small as possible and push your lips forward.
When you pronounce [것], you have to drop your jaw.

Let’s practice the pronunciation a bit.
[이것]、[이곳]、[그것]、[그곳]、[저것]、[저곳]

Please practice it again and again until you can hear the difference.
[강원도] is one of the provinces in Korea, similar to the concept of states in the United States.

• 토미：강원도는 한국의 남쪽이 아니에요?

The word [한국의] means “of Korea.”
「of~」 is written as [~의], but it is actually pronounced as [에].

[남쪽] is “south side.”
[동서남북] means “east, west, south, north” altogether.
[~쪽] means “~side”, so [동쪽] is “east side,” [서쪽] is “west side,” [남쪽] is “south side” and [북쪽] is “north side.”

• 상민：아니에요. 북쪽이에요. 거기에는 골프장이나 스키장이 많습니다.

[아니에요] means “it is not~” or “no.”
This [아니에요] is similar to [아니요] “No” which we learned before.

[거기] means “there.”
Since we learned [거기], let’s go over all the words that express positions.
[여기] is “here,” [거기] is “there (close),” [저기] is “there (far)” and [어디] is “where.”

Korean people use these words very often, so please try to memorize all of them.

[골프장] means “golf course” and [스키장] means “ski resort.”
In this way, when you add [〇〇장], it means “huge place where you do 〇〇.”
Other examples are [운동장] “sports field,” and [경기장] “stadium.”

And when you add [(이)나], it means “ ~and so on.”
In this case, the meaning is similar to [하고] “and.”

The original form of [많습니다] is [많다] which means “many.”

By the way, the opposite word is called antonym for grammatical term.
So, antonym of [많다] is [적다] which means “little/less.”
Please memorize [많다] and [적다] together as a set.

Grammar

Noun ＋ 이에요/예요

Next, let me explain the grammar.
The first grammar is [noun + 이에요/예요].

This is a polite form that people often use in a conversation.
Koreans don’t use this expression for formal papers like newspapers, academic thesis, and contracts.
For formal papers, it is better to use the dictionary form [이다] or the polite form [입니다].

There are only two patterns in this grammar.
It’s really simple, because you just need to see whether the letter before has a final consonant or not.

With a final consonant [이에요].
Let’s start with the cases with a final consonant.
If the end of a noun has a final consonant, you add [이에요] after the noun.

For example, in the sentence [북쪽이에요] “It’s on the north,” [북쪽]’s [쪽] has a final consonant so you add [이에요] to say [북쪽이에요].
Similarly, [고향이에요] “It’s my hometown” also has [향] with a final consonant, so it becomes [고향이에요].
When there is no final consonant [예요].

Next, let’s look at the cases without final consonants.
If the end of a noun does not have a final consonant, you just need to add [word＋예요].
By the way, this [예요] is pronounced as [에요] because it is difficult for native Korean speakers to pronounce “yeh” every time.

Let’s see the example.
In the sentence, [그곳은 강원도예요]. “That place is Kangwon-do,” [도] of [강원도] does not have a final consonant, so you add [예요] and it becomes [강원도예요].

Similarly, the sentence [저는 토미예요] “I am Tammy” is also written with [예요] because there is no final consonant in [토미]’s [미].

Next is the question form.
If you want to say “Is it~?” you just need to raise the intonation in the end.

For example, it becomes like this.
[강원도는 북쪽이에요?] “Is Kangwon-do in the north?”
[그곳은 강원도예요?] “Is that place Kangwon-do?”

Quiz

Let’s take a quick quiz to deepen our understanding.
What are the letters that go in the parenthesis?

No.1)
[강민아는 제 딸(       ).] Minah Kang is my daughter.

(1)이에요 (2)예요

The answer is (1).
[이에요] because [딸] has a final consonant.
So it becomes [강민아는 제 딸이에요].

No.2)
[그 사람은 교수(       )?] Is that person a professor?

(1)이에요 (2)예요

The answer is (2).
[예요] because [수] of the word [교수] does not have a final consonant.

이/가 아니에요

Let’s learn [이/가 아니에요].
Since we learned [이/가 아닙니다] in previous class, it would be simple because it is very similar.
There are two patterns of use, just like the previous one.
When there is a final consonant [이 아니에요].

If the end of a noun has a final consonant, you add [이 아니에요] and if the end of a noun does not have a final consonant, you add [가 아니에요].
Let’s first look at the cases with a final consonant.

There is a sentence [강원도는 한국의 남쪽이 아니에요].
“Kangwon-do is not in the southern part of Korea.”

Here, there is a final consonant in [쪽] of the word [남쪽], so you add [이 아니에요] to say [남쪽이 아니에요].
Let’s look at the next example.

There is a sentence [이것은 초콜렛이 아니에요]. “This is not chocolate.”
[렛] of the word [초콜렛] has a final consonant, so you add [이 아니에요] to say [초콜렛이 아니에요].
When there is no final consonant [가 아니에요].

The second pattern is when the end of a noun does not have a final consonant.
In this case, you add [가 아니에요].

For example, in the sentence [출신은 강원도가 아니에요].
“I am not from Kangwon-do,” [도] of the word [강원도] does not have a final consonant, so you add [가 아니에요] to say [강원도가 아니에요].

In another example, [그 사람은 남자 친구가 아니에요].
“That person is not my boyfriend.”
[구] of the word [남자 친구] does not have a final consonant, so you add [가 아니에요] to say [남자 친구가 아니에요].

Let’s take a look at some question forms.
[토미 씨는 공무원이 아니에요?]“Is Tammy not a civil servant?”
[이것은 전화기가 아니에요?] “Is this not a telephone?”

Quiz

Let’s further deepen our understanding through quizzes.
What words can go in the parenthesis?

No.1)
① [이것은 콜라(        ).] This is not Coke.

(1)이 아니에요 (2)가 아니에요

The answer is (2).
Because [라] of the word [콜라] does not have a final consonant.
So it becomes [이것은 콜라가 아니에요].

No.2)
② [저것은 고추장(       )?] Isn’t that gochujang?

(1)이 아니에요 (2)가 아니에요

The answer is (1).
[이 아니에요] because [장] of the word [고추장] has a final consonant.

Conversation (Korean only)

Now that I’ve explained the content of the conversation, let’s try listening to it again but this time only in Korean.
You should be able to understand it much better than in the beginning.
그럼 들어보세요!

• 토미 : 상민 씨, 이 사진은 무슨 사진이에요?
• 상민 : 그것은 제 고향사진이에요. 그곳은 강원도예요.
• 토미 : 강원도는 한국의 남쪽이 아니에요?
• 상민 : 아니에요. 북쪽이에요. 거기에는 골프장이나 스키장이 많습니다.

Conversation Practice

Did you understand the content of the conversation?
Yes, you did. Now, let’s practice reading it aloud.
I will play the audio one sentence at a time, so please read it aloud with me.

This is one of the few times you will be able to make an output, so don’t skip this part and please try reading it with confidence.
그럼 큰 소리로 읽어 보세요!

• 토미：상민 씨, 이 사진은 무슨 사진이에요?
  Tammy : Sangmin, what photo is this?
• 상민：그것은 제 고향 사진이에요. 그곳은 강원도예요.
  Sangmin : It is a photo of my hometown. That place is Kangwon-do.
• 토미：강원도는 한국의 남쪽이 아니에요?
  Tammy : Isn’t Kangwon-do in the southern part of Korea?
• 상민：아니에요. 북쪽이에요. 거기에는 골프장이나 스키장이 많습니다.
  Sangmin : No. It’s in the northern part. There are many golf courses and ski resorts there.

No. It’s in the northern part.
There are many golf courses and ski resorts there.

Homework

I will announce your favorite homework.
We have two assignments for today.
For the first homework, let’s make a sentence using the grammar of [이에요/예요 (is)] and [이/가 아니에요 (is not)] that we learned today.

For example, I will write

• 제 출신은 동경이에요. 서울이 아니에요.
  My hometown is Tokyo. I am not from Seoul.

The second homework is memorizing vocabulary.
Please memorize 40 words from 161 to 200 on page 3 of the beginner’s word list.

At the end of this page, you can take this 40-word quiz, so after you memorize 40 words, please challenge yourself.

You’ve really worked hard today!

I’m sure you will enjoy a wonderful time speaking Korean fluently in near future.
그럼 오늘도 행복 가득, 웃음 가득한 하루 되세요！ 한국어 화이팅, 화이팅, 화이팅！！