It's Not That 아니에요

You’re introducing a classmate: 학생이에요. To say they are not a student, use 학생이 아니에요. Korean negates 이다 with the separate word 아니다; it does not attach 안 to 이다.

이다 → 아니다

Most Korean verbs go negative by parking 안 in front of them. The copula ignores that rule. 이다 and 아니다 are two unrelated words that happen to mean opposite things, and 아니다 insists on its own subject marker, 이/가, even in a sentence that would normally take 은/는.

Yes, But Actually No

This is the sentence shape Koreans reach for constantly: deny one thing, then immediately supply the real answer. 아니요, X 아니에요. Y예요. “No, not X. Y.” Learn this pattern once and half of small talk becomes filling in the blanks. The examples below start simple and add a piece of grammar each time.

Vocabulary