Grammar
How Do I Say "There Is" and "There Isn't" in Korean?
있어요 for there is, 없어요 for there is not. Korean does not negate the first word to get the second, it has a separate word for absence. That pair covers existence, possession and availability, which is why it turns up more than almost anything else you learn early.
English uses "have", "there is" and "exists" for jobs Korean gives to one pair, so it is worth seeing what it actually covers.
The pair
시간 있어요? / 네, 있어요. / 아니요, 없어요.
si-gan i-sseo-yo? / ne, i-sseo-yo. / a-ni-yo, eop-sseo-yo.
Do you have time? / Yes, I do. / No, I don't.
Notice that the answers are the verb on its own. Korean answers by repeating the verb rather than by saying yes or no and stopping, which is why 있어요 and 없어요 work as complete sentences.
Three jobs, one pair
- Existence. 화장실 있어요? asks whether there is a toilet.
- Possession. 시간 있어요? asks whether you have time. Korean does not normally use a separate verb for having.
- Availability. 자리 있어요? in a restaurant asks whether a seat is free.
One pattern, three English translations. This is a place where translating into English first will slow you down, because the English side splits into words Korean never separated.
The particle in front
The thing that exists takes 이/가, not 을/를, and this trips people up because the English feels like an object.
있다 and 없다 behave like adjectives here: they describe a state rather than acting on something, so nothing in the sentence can be an object. 시간이 있어요, not 시간을 있어요. 은/는 can still sit on that slot when you are contrasting: 시간은 없어요.
⚠️ In questions the short form is the standard one (시간 있어요?), not a shortcut, so learn that one as it is. The 이/가 matters when you are building a statement of your own, which is where the object mistake above actually happens.
What it does not cover
있다 is about something being there. It is not the word for "is" in the sense of identity.
저는 학생이 있어요.
jeo-neun hak-ssaeng-i i-sseo-yo.
I have a student.
저는 학생이에요.
jeo-neun hak-ssaeng-i-e-yo.
I am a student.
이에요 says what something is. 있어요 says that it is there. Neither sentence above is wrong, which is exactly why this mix-up is quiet: nobody corrects you, they just answer a question you did not ask. English runs both through the verb "to be", and that is the source of it rather than anything difficult in Korean.
What to do this week
- Learn the question form first. 있어요? is the one you will be using in shops, not the statement.
- Practise answering with the verb alone. 네, 있어요 rather than reaching for a longer sentence.
- Say three real sentences about things you have and do not have today, with 이/가 attached.
- Keep 있어요 and 이에요 apart deliberately. Mixing them is a common early mix-up and it is easy to prevent before it settles.
The short version
있어요 and 없어요 are two separate words covering existence, possession and availability. The thing takes 이/가 because these behave like adjectives, and 있어요 is not the same as 이에요 even though English uses one verb for both.
See which patterns are yours and which are borrowed
Recognising 있어요 and producing it under pressure are different things. This tells you which one you have. Free, takes a few minutes.
Take the level test →