6 Common Mistakes with 있다 and 없다

안녕하세요 리더님! Koreanstudyjunkie입니다~ In this lesson, I wanted to shine a light on a few of the common mistakes that I personally have seen a lot of Korean learners make and how to correct it.

Confusing Subject and Topic Markers (이/가 vs. 은/는)

• Mistake: Using 은/는 when simply stating existence.

Incorrect:

• 저는 돈은 있어요. (This sounds unnatural unless you're emphasizing contrast.)

• 친구는 집에 있어요. (Sounds unnatural unless you’re contrasting with someone else.)

• Correction: Use 이/가 for neutral statements, 은/는 for contrast.

  • 돈이 있어요. (I have money.)

  • 돈은 있어요. (I have money, but maybe not something else.)

    
    

When using 은/는 for contrast:

• 돈은 있어요, 하지만 시간은 없어요. (I have money, but I don’t have time.)

Correct:

• 저는 돈이 있어요. (I have money.)

• 친구가 집에 있어요. (My friend is at home.)

Incorrectly Negating ‘있다’ as ‘안 있다’

• Mistake: Saying "안 있어요."

• Correction:

  • 없어요. (It doesn’t exist / I don’t have it.)

  • 안 있어요. (Incorrect)

Incorrect:

• 시간이 안 있어요.

• 친구가 안 있어요.

Correct:

• 시간이 없어요. (I don’t have time.)

• 친구가 없어요. (I don’t have a friend here.)

Misusing ‘있다’ for Occupations Instead of ‘이다’

Note: this actually happens with all instances of 있다 & 이다 not just occupations, but I chose one to showcase. If you struggle with the differences, you can read through this short lesson on their differences - 있다 vs 이다 | to be vs to be

• Mistake: Saying "의사가 있어요." to mean "I am a doctor."

• Correction:

  • 저는 의사예요. (I am a doctor.)

  • 의사가 있어요. (There is a doctor.)

Incorrect:

• 저는 의사가 있어요. (Sounds like "I have a doctor" rather than "I am a doctor.")

• 그는 배우가 있어요. (Sounds like "He has an actor" rather than "He is an actor.")

  
  

Correct:

• 저는 의사예요. (I am a doctor.)

• 그는 배우예요. (He is an actor.)

When using 있다 correctly:

• 병원에 의사가 있어요. (There is a doctor at the hospital.)

Using ‘있다’ Instead of ‘계시다’ for Respectful Speech

• Mistake: Saying "할머니가 집에 있어요." when speaking formally.

• Correction:

  • 할머니가 집에 계세요. (My grandmother is at home.) (Polite)

Incorrect:

• 할머니가 집에 있어요. (Grammatically correct but not respectful when talking about elders.)

• 사장님이 사무실에 있어요.

Correct:

• 할머니가 집에 계세요. (My grandmother is at home.)

• 사장님이 사무실에 계세요. (The boss is in the office.)

When using 있다 correctly for non-honorific speech:

• 내 동생이 집에 있어요. (My younger sibling is at home.)

Using ‘없다’ Instead of ‘떨어지다’ for Running Out of Something

• Mistake: Saying "우유가 없어요." to mean "We ran out of milk."

• Correction:

  • 우유가 떨어졌어요. (We ran out of milk.)

Incorrect:

• 우유가 없어요. (Technically correct, but doesn’t imply that it recently ran out.)

• 휴지가 없어요.

Correct:

• 우유가 떨어졌어요. (We ran out of milk.)

• 휴지가 떨어졌어요. (We ran out of toilet paper.)

Alternative way to say it:

• 우유를 다 썼어요. (We used up all the milk.)

That’s all for this lesson! I hope you were able to learn something new here. Once you correct these small mistakes, your Korean will be a lot more natural.