Lesson 17
After studying with the previous lessons, you can now form various sentence structures in Korean. Now it’s time to look at how to say that you “can” or “can’t” do something.
The sentence structure you can use to say that you “can” do something is: -(으)ㄹ 수 있다 [-(eu)l ssu it-tta]
Example:
보다 = to see
--> 보 + -ㄹ 수 있다 = 볼 수 있다 [bol ssu it-da] = can see
먹다 = to eat
--> 먹 + -을 수 있다 = 먹을 수 있다 [meo-geul ssu it-tta] = can eat
** Verb stems ending in a vowel are followed by -ㄹ 수 있다 and verb stems ending with a consonant are followed by -을 수 있다. The difference is whether you have the extra 으 or not in front of -ㄹ 수 있다, for the ease of pronunciation.
In -(으)ㄹ 수 있다, the word 수 [su] literally means an ‘idea’ or a ‘way’ for solving a problem or for getting something done, so -(으)ㄹ 수 있다 literally means “to have a way or an idea for doing” something.
Therefore, when you do NOT have “a way or an idea” for doing something, it means you can NOT do it, and in Korean it becomes -(으)ㄹ 수 없다, using 없다, the opposite word of 있다.
Example:
자다 = to sleep
--> 자 + -ㄹ 수 없다 = 잘 수 없다 [jal ssu eop-tta] = can not sleep
<--> 잘 수 있다 [jal ssu it-tta] = can sleep
잡다 = to catch
--> 잡 + -을 수 없다 = 잡을 수 없다 [ja-beul ssu eop-da] = can not catch <--> 잡을 수 있다 [ja-beul ssu it-da] = can catch
Another way to say -(으)ㄹ 수 없다 is using the word 못 before a verb.
-(으)ㄹ 수 없다 is the basic way to express “can not” but it is not always used in spoken Korean. A more common way to say “cannot” or “to be unable to” in spoken Korean is by adding 못 before a verb.
갈 수 없다 = 못 가다 [verb: 가다] = can not go
볼 수 없다 = 못 보다 [verb: 보다] = can not see
먹을 수 없다 = 못 먹다 [verb: 먹다] = can not eat
할 수 없다 = 못 하다 [verb: 하다] = can not do
Sample sentences
운전할 수 있어요? [un-jeon-hal ssu i-sseo-yo?]
= Can you drive? (lit. “Can you do driving?”)
일본어 할 수 있어요? [il-bo-neo hal ssu i-sseo-yo?]
= Can you speak Japanese? (lit. “Can you do Japanese?”)
이거 읽을 수 있어요? [i-geo il-geul ssu i-sseo-yo?]
= Can you read this?
못 읽어요. [mot il-geo-yo.]
= I can’t read it.
지금 못 만나요. [ji-geum mot man-na-yo.]
= I can’t meet you now.