jigabe doni eobseoyo.

There is no money in the wallet.

Breakdown of jigabe doni eobseoyo.

• ~이: subject particle
• ~에: location particle
• 돈: money
• 지갑: wallet
• 없다: to not exist

Questions & Answers about jigabe doni eobseoyo.

What does each part of the sentence do?

• 지갑 = wallet
• -에 = locative particle “at/in/on” (marks place where something exists)
• 돈 = money
• -이 = subject marker (after a noun ending in a consonant)
• 없어요 = polite present form of 없다 “to not exist / to not have”

So structurally: “In the wallet, money does not exist.”

Why is 돈 marked with 이 (subject) instead of 은/는 (topic)?

• 이/가 marks the grammatical subject; here, “money” is the thing that exists/doesn’t exist.
• 은/는 marks a topic and often adds contrast.
  
  • 돈이 없어요 = neutral “There is no money.”
  • 돈은 없어요 = “As for money, there isn’t (but there might be something else).”

Why use 에 and not 에서?

• 에 is used with existence verbs (있다/없다) to mark where something is (or isn’t).
• 에서 marks the place where an action occurs.
  
  • Correct: 지갑에 돈이 없어요.
  • Action example: 지갑에서 돈을 꺼냈어요. “I took money out of the wallet.”

Is “지갑에는 돈이 없어요” also correct?

Yes. 에는 = 에 + 는. It adds a contrastive nuance: “As for the wallet, there’s no money (maybe somewhere else there is).”

Can I drop particles here?

In casual speech, yes, often the subject marker is dropped:

• 지갑에 돈 없어요. (natural in conversation)
  As a learner, keep particles until you’re comfortable; they carry important meaning.

Can I change the word order?

Yes, Korean is flexible. Common permutations:

• 지갑에 돈이 없어요. (default, location first)
• 돈이 지갑에 없어요. (emphasizes “money”)
• 돈은 지갑에 없어요. (contrast: “Money isn’t in the wallet (but maybe something else is).”)

How do I say this casually or more formally?

• Casual plain: 지갑에 돈 없어.
• Polite informal (해요체): 지갑에 돈이 없어요.
• Formal polite: 지갑에 돈이 없습니다.
• Honorific (about a respected person’s possession): (선생님) 지갑에 돈이 없으세요.
• Question forms: …없어요?, formal …없습니까?, honorific …없으세요?

How is it pronounced?

• 지갑에 → [지가베] “ji-ga-be” (the ㅂ links to the following vowel)
• 돈이 → [도니] “do-ni” (liaison: ㄴ + ㅣ → “ni”)
• 없어요 → [업써요] “eop-sseo-yo”
  Explanation: in 없어요, the ㅄ batchim triggers tensification, so ㅅ is pronounced strong (ㅆ).

Why not say “안 있어요” for “there isn’t”?

Because Korean uses a dedicated verb: 있다 (to exist/have) ↔ 없다 (to not exist/not have).
Use 없다 for negation: 돈이 없어요, not 안 있어요.

How do I say the positive version?

• 지갑에 돈이 있어요. “There is money in the wallet.”

How can I emphasize “not even a little”?

• 지갑에 돈이 하나도 없어요.
• 지갑에 돈이 전혀 없어요.
• Informal and idiomatic: 한 푼도 없어요. (“Not even a penny.”)

Do I need to say “my wallet”?

Not if it’s obvious from context. Korean often omits possessives. If you want to be explicit:

• Polite: 제 지갑에 돈이 없어요.
• Casual: 내 지갑에 돈 없어.

What are the past and future forms?

• Past: 지갑에 돈이 없었어요. “There was no money in the wallet.”
• Future/probability: 지갑에 돈이 없을 거예요. “There probably won’t be money in the wallet.”

How do I use 없다 to modify a noun?

Use the adjective form 없는:

• 돈이 없는 지갑 or more natural: 돈 없는 지갑 = “a wallet with no money.”

Is “돈을 없어요” or “지갑에서 돈이 없어요” ever correct?

• 돈을 없어요 = incorrect. 없다 takes a subject with 이/가, not an object with 을/를.
• 지갑에서 돈이 없어요 = unnatural with 없다. Use 지갑에 돈이 없어요.
  Use 에서 only when describing an action happening there (e.g., 꺼내다, 찾다).

Should I say “지갑 속에” instead of “지갑에” for “inside the wallet”?

Both work. 지갑에 commonly means “in the wallet” in this context. 지갑 속에 is a bit more explicit/emphatic about “inside.”