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The verbs 있어요 (i-sseo-yo) and 없어요 (eop-seo-yo) come from the base verbs 있다 (it-da) and 없다 (eop-da), respectively.
- 있다 (it-da) means “to exist” or “to have.”
- 없다 (eop-da) means “to not exist” or “to not have.”
When you conjugate these verbs into the polite form, they become 있어요 (i-sseo-yo) and 없어요 (eop-seo-yo), which are commonly used in everyday speech to express presence or absence, or possession.
So, whenever you want to say something like “There is…” or “I have…”, you’ll use 있어요. If you want to say “There isn’t…” or “I don’t have…”, you’ll use 없어요.
Example:
물 = water
물 있어요 (mul i-sseo-yo) = I have water. / There is water.
물 없어요 (mul eop-seo-yo) = I don’t have water. / There is no water.
In short:
- 있어요 = something is present or you have it.
- 없어요 = something is absent or you don’t have it.
