Lesson 112: 있어요 / 없어요, and the subject particle

Vocabulary: things#

공책 is literally empty book. 노트북 is a laptop, not a notebook — a false friend worth catching early.

The subject particle 이 / 가#

The second of the two particles introduced so far.

은/는 versus 이/가#

Both attach to the thing the sentence is about, and English marks the difference with word order and stress rather than with a particle — which is why this takes a while to feel natural.

The short version: 은/는 sets the topic; 이/가 identifies the subject. Or, practically — 은/는 answers as for X, what about it? and 이/가 answers which one?

누가 한국 사람이에요?          Who is Korean?

선생님이 한국 사람이에요.      THE TEACHER is the Korean one.
제가 한국 사람이에요.          I'M the Korean one.

선생님은 한국 사람이에요.      The teacher, she's Korean.
저는 한국 사람이에요.          As for me, I'm Korean.

The 이/가 answers pick someone out of a set — they carry the stress English would put on the teacher or I. The 은/는 versions simply describe. Asked who is Korean?, only the 이/가 forms actually answer the question.

저 contracts irregularly with 가: 저 + 가 → 제가, never 저가. The same happens to 누구: 누구 + 가 → 누가. (The slide writes 누구가, but 누가 is the form to use.) With 은/는 there is no contraction — 저는 is just 저는.

있다 and 없다#

One verb covers existence and possession, and Korean does not distinguish them. The pattern is N(이/가) 있어요 / 없어요:

Note what the possession sentence literally says: as for me, a younger sibling exists. There is no verb to have — the thing owned is the subject, and you are the topic. 없다 is a dedicated negative verb rather than 있다 plus 안, which is unusual and makes it worth learning as its own word.

맛있다 and 재미있다#

있다 and 없다 compound with nouns to make adjectives, and two of them are extremely common:

Each can also be split back apart — 맛이 있어요, 재미가 있어요 — with the same meaning and slightly more emphasis.

The two pronunciations are not symmetrical, and this is a nice illustration of lesson 105:

Same 받침, same following ㅇ, two different outcomes — and the difference is not about the letters.

Both words are compounds: 맛 plus another whole word. Across that kind of boundary the 받침 neutralises to its representative sound first and only then links, which is why 맛없어요 goes through [맏] and comes out as [마덥써요]. By that rule 맛있어요 should be [마디써요] — and it is in fact accepted. But plain linking straight across, [마시써요], became so much commoner that it is now standard too, and it is what you will hear.

So the pair is a regular form and an irregular one that won, not two applications of one rule. 맛없어요 is the one behaving normally.

Work culture: 눈치#

눈 is eye; 눈치 is roughly eye-measure. The usual English gloss is emotional intelligence, but it is narrower and more situational than that:

• The ability to read the room and avoid saying or doing the awkward thing.
• Knowing the social norms of a specific situation and behaving accordingly.
• The ability to take a hint someone is giving you.

Having it is not optional in a Korean workplace. A great deal goes unsaid precisely because it is assumed you will pick it up, and “nobody told me” is a weaker defence than it would be elsewhere.

The expressions#

Every one of these is built on 있다 / 없다 or a verb from this lesson, which makes the culture half of lesson 112 a direct application of the language half.

눈치를 보다 and 눈치가 보이다 are worth separating. The first is active — you are reading someone. The second is passive and uncomfortable — you feel yourself being read, or feel you must tread carefully. Saying 눈치가 보여요 about your own team is a complaint.

Developing it#

The deck’s advice, for those who cannot read a room:

1. Put yourself in their position. What would this look like from there?
2. Observe. Why did they act like that? Why did they phrase it like that? Then think about it again — if everyone is doing the same thing, there is a reason.
3. Understand the other person’s feelings, not just their words.
4. Be considerate of the people and the setting. Try to understand the situation itself rather than only your part in it.

눈치 게임#

A drinking-and-office game that drills exactly the skill it is named after.

Players call out numbers in sequence — 일, 이, 삼 — standing up as they do. Nobody is assigned an order. If two people call the same number at the same time, both are out. If you are the last one left having not called, you are out. Survive by sensing when everyone else is about to speak, and not speaking then.

Played with Sino-Korean numbers:

Compounding is regular: 십 + 일 = 십일 (11), 이 + 십 = 이십 (20). These are the numbers used for dates, money, phone numbers and floors — see lesson 114.