Korean pronunciation question

[mirabilibus]

I've been living in Korea for about 3 weeks, and I'm trying to learn the language on the fly. (Although I did know how to read beforehand.) One thing that I keep hearing a lot is what sounds to me (native English speaker) like 없어요 to mean "don't have." When I try to look the word up online, the only thing I can find is 없어. It occurred to me

Comments

[k0dama]

Try the dictionary form: 없다

[k0dama]

(Also, there is probably some kind of rule as to how words are conjugated from their dictionary form... but I don't know it oO We wern't taught how to conjugate words in school in Korea. You were just expect to get to know them through exposure/reading.)

Many: 많다 -> 많아(요)
Few: 적다 -> 적어(요)
Isn't there/doesn't exist: 없다 -> 없어(요)
Is there/does exist: 있다 -> 있어(요)
To Read: 읽다 -> 읽어(요)

To fall over: 넘어지다 -> 넘어져(요)
To fish out: 건지다 -> 건져(요)

Big: 크다 -> 커(요)
To Write: 쓰다 -> 써(요)
To turn off: 끄다 -> 꺼(요)

Small: 작다 -> 작아(요)
To not know: 모르다 -> 몰라(요)

To Sleep: 자다 -> 자(요)
To go: 가다 -> 가(요)

To do: 하다 -> 해(요)

There's obviously a pattern.... There is probably someone studying Korean as a second language who could explain this.

[mirabilibus]

Thank you. I've noticed that native speakers are the best people to ask questions like "does this sound right? Can I say this?" And non-native speakers are usually better at answering questions like "WHY can I say this? What is the rule behind this construction?" because they had to memorize all the rules when learning the language originally, whereas the native speakers just instinctively know what sounds good.

[tisoi]

Korean verbs mark different levels of politeness & formality, as well as honor. 없어요 and 없어 are both correct, but 없어 is the least polite form of the verb. On the other end of the spectrum you have 없습니다.

You can see the conjugation paradigm for 없다 (dictionary form as k0dama points out) at http://www.verbix.com/languages/korean.php?verb=%EC%97%86%EB%8B%A4

[mirabilibus]

Thank you! That's exactly what I needed!

[hampster_cowboy]

As pointed out above, 없어요 is just attaching the politeness marker 요 to the informal 없어.

[mirabilibus]

That makes sense, since I'm usually hearing it used by students speaking to teachers or employees at a business speaking to customers.