The Sentence Skeleton · Lesson 5 of 6
있어요/없어요 — There Is, I Have
One pair covers existence, possession, and the survival question “where is the bathroom?”
One pair of words covers “there is”, “I have”, and the single most useful question a traveler can ask. Meet Korean's existence verbs.
있어요 / 없어요
있어요
isseoyo
there is / (I) have
없어요
eopseoyo
there isn't / (I) don't have
There's water. — and with rising tone, “is there water?”
I don't have time. — literally “as for me, time doesn't exist.” Poetic and practical.
Where things are: 에
Add the location particle 에 (at/in/to) and 있어요 tells you where things live:
(I'm) at home. / It's at home.
The survival question
화장실이 어디에 있어요?
hwajangsil-i eodie isseoyo?
Where is the bathroom?
어디 = where. Swap the first word for anything you're hunting: 지하철역 (subway station), 카페…
Try it
Ask a server if there's water.Show answerAnswer
Say “there's no time.”Show answerAnswer
Ask where the café is. (카페)Show answerAnswer
What you just learned
- 있어요/없어요 — existence and possession in one pair.
- 에 marks location: 집에, 어디에.
- 화장실이 어디에 있어요? — assembled, not memorized.
Quick check
Did it stick?
Three quick questions — instant answers, no grades, no pressure.
1.“I don't have time” uses…
2.The particle 에 marks…
3.“Where is the bathroom?” is…
Want the why behind the words?
The reading path explains the culture and logic that make Korean click — a perfect companion to these lessons.