Korean to Be: 이다 and 있다 Explained

The first section answers the question in its simplest form.

How Do You Say to Be in Korean?

To say "to be" in Korean, choose the structure that matches the meaning of the English sentence. Use 이다 (ida) when "is" equates two things, use 있다 (itda) when "is" means "exists" or "is located", and use a plain adjective when "is" only describes a quality. Korean grammar books call 이다 the copula, the word that links a noun to a description of that noun.

Here is the choice in one table, with a test you can apply to any English sentence.

The test: replace "is" with "equals", "exists" or "is [adjective]". If "equals" fits, use 이다. If "exists" or "is located" fits, use 있다. If the English word after "is" is an adjective, the Korean adjective already carries the meaning, so no extra verb is needed. The next section tells you which lesson to read.

Which Lesson Should You Read?

Read the two lessons in this order. The first teaches the choice, and the second teaches the forms of the verb you will use most.

1. Korean be verb: 이다 vs 있다. Teaches how to choose between 이다, 있다 and no be verb at all. It covers the three-way choice with 24 examples, the pair 어디예요? and 어디에 있어요?, and the negatives 아니에요 and 없어요. Read this first if your question is "which one do I use?"
2. Korean 이다 conjugation. Shows every form of 이다: 이에요 or 예요 in the polite present, 입니다 in formal speech, 이었어요 or 였어요 in the past, 이야 or 야 in casual speech, and the negative 아니에요. Read this when you can already pick 이다 and want the forms.

Both lessons use the same first sentences you will see below. The next section shows how the three structures behave in a negative sentence.

The Three-Way Choice

Each of the three structures has its own negative, and this is where learners most often mix them up. The table gives the positive and the negative for each.

Three patterns are visible. 이다 negates with 아니다 and moves the particle 이/가 onto the noun: 학생이 아니에요. 있다 negates with its own opposite 없다, a separate word. An adjective negates with 안 in front of it. Using the wrong negative is the most common error at this level: 학생이 없어요 means "there is no student", not "I am not a student".

Dictionaries disagree about the grammatical label of these words. The Standard Korean Language Dictionary (표준국어대사전) of the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) lists 이다 as a predicative particle (서술격 조사), while 있다 is classed as a verb or an adjective depending on the meaning, and 없다 as an adjective. For a beginner, the label matters less than the behavior: all of them conjugate with the same endings as verbs. The next section puts the structures into three whole sentences.

Your First Sentences

Three sentences cover the three structures, and you can say them from day one. Each uses the polite present form that ends in 요, the form you will hear most often from strangers and colleagues.

The second sentence has no subject, and that is normal. Korean drops a subject that is clear from context, so 학교에 있어요 can mean "I am at school", "he is at school" or "it is at school". The verb does not change for any of them. Why Korean verbs ignore the subject is explained in how Korean verbs work.

Do Adjectives Need a Be Verb?

No. A Korean adjective already includes the meaning "to be", so 예뻐요 alone means "is pretty" and 추워요 alone means "is cold". Adding 이다 to an adjective is an error: 날씨가 좋이에요 is wrong. Korean calls these words 형용사 (hyeongyongsa, adjectives), and many English-language textbooks call them descriptive verbs, because they conjugate like verbs.

A useful rule of thumb: 이다 follows only nouns. If the word before "is" in your English sentence is a noun (student, teacher, Korea), use 이다. If it is an adjective (good, cold, pretty), use the adjective alone. The pair 있다 and 없다 are a special case, because they look like adjectives but also behave like verbs; the page on 있다 and 없다 adjectives explains them. The next section sorts out what lives elsewhere.

Where Are Negation and Particles?

Negation and particles are taught in the grammar hub, not here, so this hub stays on the verbs. Three pointers cover the usual follow-up questions.

• The full set of negatives (안, 못, -지 않다) is in Korean negation.
• The particles 은/는 and 이/가 that mark the topic and the subject are in Korean topic and subject particles.
• The sentence pattern noun + 이에요/예요 for "A is B" is taught as a sentence-building lesson in 이에요/예요 to be. The hub you are reading routes the verbs; that lesson drills the pattern.

Korean to be is a choice of structure, not a single verb, and the two lessons above give you the choice and the forms.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you say to be in Korean? Korean has no single verb for to be. Use 이다 to say what something is (학생이에요, a student), use 있다 to say that something exists or where it is (학교에 있어요, at school), and use an adjective alone to describe a quality (좋아요, good). The structure depends on what the English sentence means.

Is 이다 a verb? It behaves like one, because it conjugates: 이에요, 입니다, 이었어요. The Standard Korean Language Dictionary classes 이다 as a predicative particle (서술격 조사) rather than a verb, and learner books call it the copula. It attaches directly to a noun and never stands alone, so treat it as a verb-like ending for nouns.

What is the difference between 이다 and 있다? 이다 equates two things: 이것은 책이에요, this is a book. 있다 says that something exists or is in a place: 책이 있어요 means there is a book, and 책상에 있어요 means it is on the desk. Ask what the English is does: naming an identity gives 이다, locating or existing gives 있다.

How do I say is not in Korean? For identity, use 아니다: 학생이 아니에요 means I am not a student. For existence, use 없다: 집에 없어요 means it is not at home. For adjectives, put 안 before the adjective: 안 좋아요 means it is not good. Each of the three structures has its own negative.

What this hub does not cover. It does not cover honorific forms, plain written style (학생이다) or 이다 after numbers and dates. About this page. Last updated 2026-10-09. The Korean text, spoken forms and audio on this page were machine-generated and reviewed and signed off by Min-ji Park on 15 October 2026. Romanization follows the Revised Romanization of Korean and is shown only as a learning aid.