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Grammar / Level 1 / Lesson 4

을/를, 있다 and 없다

By Daniel Buckley · 9 minute read · TOPIK 1

Vocabulary

  1. 있다 - to exist, to be at, to have
  2. 없다 - to not exist, to not have
  3. 돈 - money
  4. 시간 - time
  5. 집 - house, home
  6. 책 - book
  7. 읽다 - to read
  8. 좋아하다 - to like
  9. 기다리다 - to wait
  10. 타다 - to ride, to get on

"I eat rice" and "I have money" look the same in English: a person, a verb, a thing. In Korean they get different tags. It's 밥을 먹어요 but 돈이 있어요, because to Korean those aren't the same kind of sentence.

을/를 marks something a verb acts on. 있다 acts on nothing and only says a thing exists. So in Korean you don't "have" money. Money exists, and it's yours.

※ Verbs here are in the 요 form as whole chunks. Lesson 6 explains how they're built.

을/를: the thing acted on

을/를 marks the object, the thing the verb does something to. The batchim rule picks the form, as it did for 은/는 and 이/가. The particle stays with its noun, in front of the verb.

The object particle

  • After a consonant: 을.밥을 먹어요.책을 읽어요.
  • After a vowel: 를.커피를 마셔요.영화를 봐요.

  1. 밥을 먹어요.

    (I) eat rice.

  2. 커피를 마셔요.

    (I) drink coffee.

  3. 책을 읽어요.

    (I) read book.

  4. 저는 한국어를 공부해요.

    I study Korean.

  5. 민수가 친구를 만나요.

    Minsu meets friend.

Look at all three pairs side by side: 은, 이 and 을 follow a consonant, and 는, 가 and 를 follow a vowel. That's the whole mechanism, and the tool below shows 이/가 and 을/를 on the same noun.

person, last syllable 람 breaks into:

ㄹㅏㅁ

ends in a consonant, so it HAS a batchim

subject: 이/가사람이
object: 을/를사람을

Where English uses a preposition

Some English verbs need "for", "to" or "on" before their object. Their Korean counterparts just take 을/를, so learn these with the particle.

  1. 친구를 기다려요.

    (I) wait for friend.

  2. 음악을 들어요.

    (I) listen to music.

  3. 버스를 타요.

    (I) get on bus.

  4. 사진을 봐요.

    (I) look at photo.

Dropping it, and swapping it

In casual speech 을/를 often disappears, and 이/가 does fairly often too. 밥 먹어요 sounds completely natural. Learn the full forms first anyway. A sentence with its particles is always correct, and the dropping comes with exposure.

은/는 can also take over from 을/를 when you want a contrast. It replaces the particle and doesn't go on top of it, so 밥을 becomes 밥은, never 밥을은.

  1. 밥 먹어요.

    (I) eat rice.

  2. 커피 마셔요?

    (You) drink coffee?

  3. 커피는 마셔요. 술은 안 마셔요.

    Coffee (I) drink. Alcohol (I) don't drink.

있다: something exists

있다 says something exists. English needs three different phrases for that: "there is", "is at" and "have". Korean uses one, and the thing that exists takes 이/가 because it's the subject.

있다 and 없다

  • Exists: noun + 이/가 + 있어요.돈이 있어요.
  • Doesn't exist: noun + 이/가 + 없어요.돈이 없어요.
  • To say where: place + 에.집에 있어요.

  1. 물이 있어요.

    Water exists. (There's water.)

  2. 집에 고양이가 있어요.

    At home cat exists. (There's a cat at home.)

  3. 민수는 집에 있어요.

    Minsu exists at home. (Minsu is at home.)

  4. 저는 시간이 있어요.

    As for me, time exists. (I have time.)

  5. 동생이 있어요.

    Younger sibling exists. (I have a younger sibling.)

※ 에 marks the place something is. It's the same 에 you saw for destinations in lesson 1, and lesson 13 sets it against 에서.

Read each sentence and decide which English phrase you'd need.

  1. 저기 고양이가 있어요.

  2. 민수는 학교에 있어요.

  3. 저는 동생이 있어요.

  4. 시간이 있어요?

  5. 제 가방은 집에 있어요.

  6. 집에 물이 있어요.

없다: nothing there

없다 is the opposite, and it's a word in its own right. You can't build it from 있다 with 안. It covers the same ground as 있다 in reverse: "there isn't", "isn't at" and "don't have".

  1. 돈이 없어요.

    Money doesn't exist. (I have no money.)

  2. 시간이 없어요.

    Time doesn't exist. (I have no time.)

  3. 민수는 집에 없어요.

    Minsu doesn't exist at home. (Minsu isn't at home.)

  4. 집에 물이 없어요.

    At home water doesn't exist. (There's no water at home.)

Several everyday adjectives are built on these two. 재미 is fun, so 재미있어요 is "fun exists", interesting, and 재미없어요 is boring. 맛 is taste, so 맛있어요 is delicious and 맛없어요 tastes bad.

Which particle?

Ask whether the verb does something to the noun. If it does, the noun takes 을/를. If the noun exists, or doesn't, it takes 이/가.

  1. 돈___ 없어요.

    I have no money.

  2. 커피___ 마셔요.

    I drink coffee.

  3. 시간___ 있어요?

    Do you have time?

  4. 친구___ 기다려요.

    I'm waiting for a friend.

A

저기요, 물 있어요?

Excuse me, water exists?

B

네, 있어요.

Yes, exists.

A

커피 있어요?

Coffee exists?

B

아니요, 커피는 없어요.

No, as for coffee, doesn't exist.

Listen and type

1 / 3

Play it as often as you like.

Common mistakes

  1. 돈을 없어요.

    돈이 없어요.

    Nothing is being done to the money. It doesn't exist, so it takes 이/가.

  2. 시간이 안 있어요.

    시간이 없어요.

    있다 has its own opposite, so it doesn't take 안.

  3. 집에 이에요.

    집에 있어요.

    이다 says what something is. 있다 says where it is.

Check yourself

Quick check

1 / 6

___ 먹어요. (밥) I eat rice.

밥 ends in a consonant.

Summary

을/를, 있다 and 없다

  • 을 after a consonant, 를 after a vowel: the thing the verb acts on.밥을 먹어요.커피를 마셔요.
  • 있다: there is, is at, have. The thing takes 이/가.돈이 있어요.
  • 없다: the opposite, used instead of 안 있다.돈이 없어요.
  • Place + 에 says where.집에 있어요.

Now you can say

  1. 시간이 있어요?

    Time exists? (Do you have time?)

  2. 돈이 없어요.

    Money doesn't exist. (I have no money.)

  3. 커피를 좋아해요.

    (I) like coffee.

Frequently asked questions

Can you drop particles in Korean?
In casual speech, yes. Koreans drop 을/를 freely and 이/가 often, so 밥 먹어요 sounds natural. Learn the full forms first, because they keep the grammar visible, and dropping them comes on its own once you have an ear for it.

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