Korean
When “yes” means “no” in Korean
If you like watching Korean tv shows, and if you prefer to do so with subtitles, you’ll often find that the Korean word 네 (yes) is written as “no” in […]
If you like watching Korean tv shows, and if you prefer to do so with subtitles, you’ll often find that the Korean word 네 (yes) is written as “no” in the subtitles. What the h… is going on!?
Also, when speaking Korean, you may encounter conversations like this from time to time:
A: 그럼 어제 불고기를 안 먹었어요? (So you didn’t eat bulgogi yesterday?)
B: 네 (Yes)
This is where you may start to become even more confused. Did they eat the bulgogi or not? Maybe you misunderstood what your friend has said before? In this case the Korean “yes” is really a “no”. When answering a negative question with a “yes” Koreans are simply confirming your statement – that they didn’t eat the bulgogi. Once in a while you may be so lucky that they make their answers a bit more clear by saying “Yes, I didn’t”. If not, you can be sure to share a lot of laughs at the confusion. Also, bear in mind that Koreans are equally puzzled by our use of “no” in a similar situation.
Although simple, this may be one of the most confusing concepts for foreigners to grasp when learning Korean. I’ve experienced a great deal of yes/no misunderstandings, but I promise you that you’ll get accustomed to it. Just take my word for it, and make sure you don’t become so used to it that you accidently transfer this yes/no logic to English 🙂
The awesome site ItchyFeet hilariously captures the yes/no confusion in this comic
소희
I'm a Danish girl living in Korea teaching economics at Sogang economics. When I'm not working I love to learn Korean, discover this beautiful country, read and blog about my experiences and thoughts. Follow me at www.sofietokorea.com :)
Sofie to Korea 
Oh I can remember a few months ago I had to go to a Korean movie premiere and there was one of my Korean teachers sitting in front of the cinema.I was kind of anxious as he seems a bit cold when he speaks(but he is actually not that scary of a person) I remember him asking “점심을 안 먹었어요?” and me answering in the most pitiful way “아니요…”. But I was actually starving !! I couldn’t eat lunch because I didn’t have time.He seemed so surprised and asked again and I still answered the same with the same sad face.And then after 5 minutes I realized how stupid I was and felt embarrassed all day ㅋㅋI am still trying to get used to this yes/no grammar point.
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Excellent example! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
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