Grammar
-지 않다
Meaning
Beginner-ji anta
The long negation: -지 않다 attached to a verb or adjective stem says that the action or state does not hold. Korean has two negations that mean the same thing — this one, and the short 안 placed in front of the predicate — and the long form is the one written Korean and news reporting reach for. 단행하지 않았다 reports a decision not to act, where 안 단행했다 would read as a plain statement that it simply did not happen.
Form
Verb or adjective stem + -지 않다, with no batchim distinction: 가다 → 가지 않다, 먹다 → 먹지 않다, 좋다 → 좋지 않다. Tense and politeness go on 않다, never on the stem in front — 가지 않았습니다, not 갔지 않습니다. For a verb built on noun + 하다, the 하 is what carries -지: 발표하지 않다. Nouns are negated with 이/가 아니다 instead, and 있다 has its own opposite 없다, so 없다 is what is normally said.
Examples
정부는 계획을 발표하지 않았습니다.
The government did not announce the plan.
Common mistakes & nuance
The contraction -잖다 comes from -지 않다 but no longer means it: -잖아(요) confirms something the listener already knows, so 맞잖아요 is 'it is right, you know' and not a negation at all. The short negation 안 is a separate word and takes a space (안 갑니다); with a verb built on noun + 하다 it goes inside the verb — 공부 안 해요, not 안 공부해요. And an inability imposed from outside is a different ending, -지 못하다: 가지 않았다 says someone chose not to go, 가지 못했다 says they could not.
Similar grammar
- -지 말고
말다 is the negation used for commands and suggestions, where 않다 cannot go: 가지 마세요 'do not go', never 가지 않으세요. -지 말고 in particular sets up a replacement — not that, but this. Use -지 않다 to state that something is not so, and 말다 to tell someone not to do it.
- -지 않도록
The same -지 않 with -도록 stacked on top, giving a purpose rather than a statement: 늦지 않도록 'so as not to be late'. It builds a subordinate clause and cannot end a sentence, while -지 않다 is the ordinary predicate form that can.