Lesson 3
In Korean, when you want to express your disbelief in something that is said, has actually happened, or is happening right at that moment, you can use the ending -(으)ㄹ 리가 없어요.
Meaning
-(으)ㄹ 리가 없어요 means “it cannot be…” or “it is impossible that…”.
Conjugation
Verb stems ending with a vowel + -ㄹ 리가 없어요.
Verb stems ending with ㄹ + 리가 없어요.
Verb stems ending with consonants other than ㄹ + -을 리가 없어요.
Meaning of 리
리 means “reason” or “logic” and can be found in the words “이유 (reason)” and “논리 (logic)”. Therefore, the structure -(으)ㄹ 리가 없어요 literally means “there is no reason that…” or “there is no logic behind the fact that...”, and when it is translated into English, it means “it cannot be...” or “it is impossible…”.
Examples
- 그렇다 is a very common expression that is used every day in Korean, which means “to be so”. When 그렇다 is put together with verb endings, the consonant ㅎ is usually dropped.
그러 + ㄹ 리가 없어요 = 그럴 리가 없어요!
= It cannot be!
= It cannot be so!
= That is impossible!
- 눈이 오다 = to snow
눈이 오 + ㄹ 리가 없어요 = 눈이 올 리가 없어요!
= It is impossible that it is snowing!
= It cannot be snowing!
- 모르다 = to not know
모르 + ㄹ 리가 없어요 = 모를 리가 없어요.
= It cannot be that he/she does not know.
= It is impossible that he/she does not know.
Using -(으)ㄹ 리가 없어요 with the past and future tenses
-을 리가 없어요 can be placed after the past tense suffix -았/었/였-. In this case, it is always -을 because the past tense suffixes always end in the consonant ㅆ.
Examples
- 가다 = to go
[present tense] 가 + -ㄹ 리가 없어요 = 갈 리가 없어요
= There is no way that he/she is going/leaving.
= He/She will never go.
[past tense] 가 + -았- + -을 리가 없어요 = 갔을 리가 없어요
= There is no way that he/she went.
- 있다 = to be (somewhere)
[present tense] 있 + -을 리가 없어요 = 있을 리가 없어요
= There cannot be something.
= No way that it exists.
[past tense] 있 + -었- + -을 리가 없어요 = 있었을 리가 없어요
= It is impossible that there was …
For the future tense, the same structure as the present tense is used. You can simply add words which indicate that you are talking about a future action or state.
Ex)
내일이 일요일 + -이 + -ㄹ 리가 없어요. = 내일이 일요일일 리가 없어요.
= There is no way that tomorrow is Sunday.
내일 눈이 오 + -ㄹ 리가 없어요. = 내일 눈이 올 리가 없어요.
= It is impossible that it will snow tomorrow.
Sample Sentences
정말요? 그럴 리가 없어요!
= Really? That cannot be true!
효진 씨가 안 왔을 리가 없어요.
= It is impossible that Hyojin did not come.
= There is no way that Hyojin is not here.
경은 씨가 노래를 할 리가 없어요.
= There is no way that Kyeong-eun is going to sing.
= It is impossible that Kyeong-eun will sing.
안 추울 리가 없어요. 지금 1월이에요.
= It is impossible that it is not cold. It is January right now.
이상하네요. 안 될 리가 없어요.
= It is strange. There is no way that it is not going to work.