jigabe dongjeoni eobseodo gyotongkadeuga isseumyeon jihacheoreul tal su isseo.

Even if there are no coins in your wallet, you can take the subway if you have a transit card.

Breakdown of jigabe dongjeoni eobseodo gyotongkadeuga isseumyeon jihacheoreul tal su isseo.

• ~이: subject particle
• ~을: object particle
• ~가: subject particle
• 있다: to have

Questions & Answers about jigabe dongjeoni eobseodo gyotongkadeuga isseumyeon jihacheoreul tal su isseo.

Why is it 지갑에 동전이 and not 지갑에서 동전을?

Here, 지갑에 means in the wallet and marks the location where the coins would be. The particle 에 is often used for existence/location with 있다/없다.

So:

• 지갑에 동전이 있다 = There are coins in the wallet.
• 지갑에 동전이 없다 = There are no coins in the wallet.

동전이 uses 이/가 because 동전 is the thing that exists or does not exist.

If you said 지갑에서 동전을, that would sound like you are doing an action from the wallet to the coins, which does not fit 없다 here.

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What does 없어도 mean exactly?

없어도 means even if there isn’t / even without.

It comes from:

• 없다 = to not exist / to not have
• 없어도 = even if there is not / even if you do not have

In this sentence:

• 지갑에 동전이 없어도 = Even if there are no coins in your wallet

This -아/어도 grammar means even if or although.

More examples:

• 비가 와도 가요. = Even if it rains, I go.
• 돈이 없어도 괜찮아요. = It’s okay even if you don’t have money.

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Why does the sentence use both 없어도 and 있으면? Aren’t they both conditional?