# 없으세요 / 있으세요



## idialegre

I recently posted an ad on a Korean website saying that I was looking for a Korean penpal. I wrote in my ad,

누가 관시미 있어요? 

One of the posters corrected this to

누구 관심 없으세요?

I understand the correction of 누가  to  누구, but I don't understand why it would be 없으세요 instead of 있으세요. I asked the poster, but he caid he could not explain it, just that it was the more natural way to pose the question.

Can anyone explain it to me?

Thanks!


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## kenjoluma

idialegre said:


> I recently posted an ad on a Korean website saying that I was looking for a Korean penpal. I wrote in my ad,
> 
> 누가 관시미 있어요?
> 
> One of the posters corrected this to
> 
> 누구 관심 없으세요?
> 
> I understand the correction of 누가  to  누구, but I don't understand why it would be 없으세요 instead of 있으세요. I asked the poster, but he caid he could not explain it, just that it was the more natural way to pose the question.
> 
> Can anyone explain it to me?
> 
> Thanks!



Many reasons I can give you. 

1. When we ask someone to participate any activity which benefits us, we Koreans are trained to ask under the premise that people might not be interested. That way, we can express bigger honour and more appreciation to someone "accidentally interested in this". 

(edit: 누구 here can be translated to "somebody")


2. Since you used "honorific tone", you should use "계세요", instead of "있어요" or "있으세요". In your question, you are asking whether there IS anyone interested in this, not whether someone HAS something, right?  

(edit: I'm guessing, because the subject is "누가". Just translate the sentence into English, "Who is interested in this?", and you can see it's bit off even in English. It should be "Is there someone interested in this?" in my opinion)

있으세요(or sometimes 있어요) literally means "Do you possess something". If you want to ask "is there anyone who is...", then you should use "계세요". (cg. 계시다)

Probably people you aim to speak to are someone you don't know. Anonymous group of people you publicly announce to should be respected. They, therefore, cannot be described as "있다", which only describes some "thing" or some of your close friends and family.


3. If you really want to use a "positive sentence", then you can say "관심 있으신 분 계세요?". 

(Take a close look at those two different colours. 있다 is for 관심, 계시다 is for 분)


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## idialegre

Kenjoluma, 정말 감사합니다!  This was a really helpful answer. I understand the point about the negative question being more polite. (Americans sometimes use a slightly similar construction, by the way, as in "Let's see if I can't help you with that," meaning, "Let's see if I CAN ...")

But allow me to ask, just so I can be really clear on this: let's say I'm with a group of close friends, and we want to go to the movies, and I want to ask, "Who has a car?" Would this be

누구 자동차 없어? or
누구 자동차 있어? or 
자동차 있는 분 있어? or
자동차 있은 분 있어? (I get mixed up between 있는 and 있은)

or some version of the same, but using 사람 instead of 분?

Thanks you for your patience!!!!


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## kenjoluma

누구 자동차 없어? / 누구 자동차 있어? 
Both are correct

자동차 있는 분 계셔?
자동차 있는 분 안 계셔?
would be correct 
(Edit: 자동차 있으신 분 계셔? would be better)

자동차 있는 분 있어?
자동차 있는 분 없어?
would be okay... but you kind of hope that "someone who has a car" is not listening to what you say. It's sorta rude to him/her. But sometimes even we Koreans use this way with close friends.


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## idialegre

Kenjoluma, thanks again. One last question on this - the last one, I promise!

In your example  관심 있으신 분 계세요?, you use 있으신. I would have expected 
있으시는. Is there a big difference?


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## kenjoluma

I apologize for your confusion. When I say "verb", that means "predicate". 
"있다" can be both verb and adjective.

(I believe your Korean is good enough for this:
http://krdic.naver.com/detail.nhn?docid=31425300 )

And you know the inflection difference between verbs and adjectives, right?

Verb-past-particle : "-은" or "-ㄴ"
Verb-present-particle: "-는"

Adjective-past-particle: "-었던"
Adjective-present-particle: "-은" or  "-ㄴ"

있다 as "to have" is... Sorry it's kinda weird for Westerners but, it is an adjective. It indicates a "static status" in which you possess something.


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## idialegre

But if  있으신 correct, why not then  있은 instead of 있는 ? (Sorry, I broke my promise!)


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## kenjoluma

It is really hard to teach Korean in English, because the very concept of "verb" and "adjective" is not equivalent to that of Korean...

For example, "to have" or "to possess" is a verb in English. However in Korean, "있다" can be adjective because it has no "movement" in it. It is just a status...


To avoid your confusion, here's a bottom-line for you. Verb-past-particle is easily confused with Adjective-present-particle.


이것은 예쁜 꽃이다. (This is a beautiful flower)
한국에 온 사람 (A person who came to Korean)

예쁜(<예쁘다) looks perfectly identical with 온(<오다) in its structure, but 예쁜 is present, while 온 is past. Because 예쁘다 is an adjective and 오다 is a verb....


I am so sorry that I misused the English word "verb".... It was not the "english verb" that I wanted to say....


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## kenjoluma

idialegre said:


> But if  있으신 correct, why not then  있은 instead of 있는 ? (Sorry, I broke my promise!)



If you go to the link I gave you, take a look at "형용사.4". 
What can I say about this exception...  

It's an adjective, but works just like a verb. ONLY "있는", though. Never "있으시는"! It's "있으신".
"있는" is an exception. There is no such thing as "있은".


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## idialegre

Oh, NOW I get it! Thanks so much!


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## idialegre

Kenjoluma,  나를 많이 도와서 다시 고마워요! 아주 잘 설명해 줬어요.


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## amiee

고마워요. 나도 알았어요.


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## Superhero1

idialegre, amiee  I would say, 

'잘 설명해줘서 정말 고마워요!  In this case, '잘 설명해줘서' covered the meaning of '도와줘서' and we don't say '도와서'.

'저도 잘 읽었어요. 고마워요.' is more authentic expression.


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## amiee

당신 진짜 좋아요. 고마워요.


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