Korean: Negative expression 못 vs 안

Negative expression 못、안

In Korean, you will find that negative sentences often give you 못 and 안.
"못", "안" are used in the sentence to express negation. It is equivalent to the meaning of "not..." in English.

The difference between 못 and 안

Since "못" and "안" both mean "not", what is the difference?

【Diff 1】 Negative at the ability level.

Think about it, both "can't" and "don't" have negative meanings, but if you think about it carefully, you will find that there is a difference in meaning between them.
"못" to negate at the level of ability, while "안" means to negate regardless of ability.

Ex：
To express "I can't drive", "못" is used.
And "안" is used to express "I don't drive".

【Diff 2】 Differences in the range of words that can be used

區別2是由區別1而來的，因為「못」表達能力上的復定，因此**「못」只能跟動詞一起使用**。
而「안」不管能力，單純表達與原意相反，所以**「안」可以跟動詞，形容詞一起使用**。 Diff 2 is derived from Diff 1, because "못" expresses the negation of ability, so "못" can only be used together with verbs.
"안" simply expresses negation, so "안" can be used together with verbs and adjectives.

Now that you have learned the above, let's talk about the basic usage of 못 and 안.

Basic usage of 못 and 안

There are two ways to use it.

• The first is to put "못" and "안" directly before the verb (안 can also be used with adjective).
• The second is to add "지 않다" and "지 못하다" after the stem of the verb.(지 못다 can be used with adjective)

Both approaches are common, with the first approach being more concise than the second. Let's go into more depth on both.

【Usage 1】 Put 못/안 before a word.

Note the following points.
⑴ 못 ＋ verb
⑵ 안 ＋ verb or adjective
⑶ ＯＯ하다-like verb: Since ＯＯ is a noun and the real verb is "하다", it will be ＯＯ + 못/안 ＋하다.

Here is a simple example in a table. (If you are not an iPhone or Safari user, you can click on the text in Korean to hear the pronunciation.)

Korean	English	못 (can't)	안 (not)
마시다	drink	못 마시다	안 마시다
오다	come	못 오다	안 오다
요리하다	cook	요리 못 하다	요리 안 하다
좋다	good	-	안 좋다
싸다	cheap	-	안 싸다

【Usage 2】 Word's stem + "지 못하다", "지 않다"

Note the following points.
_⑴ verb's stem ＋ 지 못하다 _
⑵ verb's or adjective's stem ＋ 지 못하다

Here also is a simple example in a table. (If you are not an iPhone or Safari user, you can click on the text in Korean to hear the pronunciation.)

Korean	English	못 (can't)	안 (not)
마시다	drink	마시지 못하다	마시지 않다
오다	come	오지 못하다	오지 않다
요리하다	cook	요리 하지 못하다	요리 하지 않다
좋다	good	-	좋지 않다
싸다	cheap	-	싸지 않다

Extra

It is important to note that the ㅅ ending of 못 will be pronounced differently depending on the verb that follows it.
For example, 지 못하다 will be pronounced 지 모타다.

Below is a list of different pronunciations of ㅅ ending of 못 depending on the occasion.

Final

Back to the beginning of the example. Can you make sentences like "I can't drive" and "I don't drive" after knowing the above explanations? :)

나는 운전못하다.

I can't drive

나는 운전하지 않다.

I don't drive