Deep dive into: 신경 안 쓰다 means in English
In Korean, the expression "신경 안 쓰다" literally means "not paying attention" or "not caring." It is used when a person is unconcerned or indifferent to something that may be a source of worry or stress.
This expression portrays an indifferent attitude towards a certain situation or problem. Basically, 신경 has two meanings: "nerve" and "care".
However, in this discussion, I will invite you to learn 신경 which means "I don't care". Let's start!
신경 (안) 쓰다 grammar
You can use "신경 (안) 쓰다" to express "I care" or "I don't care. It is more useful to learn the negative form (신경 안 쓰다) first. If you are just talking about not paying attention to a noun, just add "에 대해" to the noun you are not paying attention to. to the noun you do not care about.
For example:
> 저는 사람들의 의견에 대해 신경(을) 안 써요
I don't care about people's opinions.
> 저는 그에 대해 별로 신경(을) 안 써요
I don't really care.
> 그는 자기 학술에 대해 신경(을) 안 써요
He doesn't care about his academic.
If the thing you don't care about is a phrase (for example, I don't care if you like me or not), you can use ~는 것 to turn the phrase into a noun. You must then attach the object particle "~을/를" to "것" instead of "~에 대해". For example:
> 나는 나의 친구가 많이 먹는 것을 신경(을) 안 써
I don't care if my friend eats a lot.
> 나는 네가 연습을 안 하는 것을 신경(을) 안 써
I don't care if you don't exercise.
Also notice that "~을/를" can be added to 신경 in the examples above. Phrases with 신경 is the only case I have ever seen in which the object particle ~을/를 can be attached to two nouns preceded by two separate nouns that rely on the same verb.
In this sentence, "쓰다" predicates only two object particles (not three):
나는 네가 연습을 안 하는 것을 신경(을) 안 써 = I don’t care if you don’t exercise
The “~를” attached to “연습” is the object particle in the clause predicated by the verb “하
다”:
If the phrase you are not interested in contains a question word, you need to use "지" as the noun instead of "것". as the noun instead of "것". You might want to know that "~을/를" is seldom (if ever) attached to 지. Some examples of this use include:
나는 이 게 얼마나 멀린지 신경(을) 안 써 = I don’t care how far away it is
나는 네가 어디 가는 지 신경(을) 안 써 = I don’t care where you go
Notice that these examples are very similar in meaning (and construction) to the concept you learned in the previous lessons 상관없다:
> 나는 이 게 얼마나 멀리 가든지 상관없어
I don't care how far this goes
> 나는 네가 어디 일하든 지 상관없어
I don't care where you work.
> 나는 네가 춤을 얼마나 잘 추든 상관없어요
I don't care how well you can dance
Just like with “상관없다” sentences, you can also use the grammatical principle ~아/어도
on the clause that you do not care about. For example:
> 나는 네가 어디 가도 신경(을) 안 써
I don’t care where you go
> 나는 네가 한국어를 잘 할 수 있어도 신경(을) 안 써
I don’t care if you can speak Korean well
This might be a little confusing, but I'll give you a provisional conclusion before we move on:
> You can use "신경 안 쓰다" to mean "I don't care".
> If the thing you don't care about is only noun, add "~에 대해" to the noun.
> If the thing you don't care about is a proposition that ends in "~는 것," attach "~을/를" to the noun.
> If the thing you don't care about has a question word in the phrase, use "지" as the noun, with no particle. noun, without a particle.
> You can also use "~아/어도" before "신경 안 쓰다".
~아/어도 ...신경(을) 안 써 can also be used in sentences without question words:
> 저는 우리가 내일 안 가도 신경을 안 써요
I don't care if we leave tomorrow.
> 저는 아버지가 안 와도 신경을 안 써요
I don't care if dad comes.
I care:
Although "신경 안 쓰다" can be used to make negative phrases in Korean, you can't really make positive phrases by removing the "안". positive sentences simply by removing "안." Consider the following examples:
(+) Positive:
> 그는 자기 선생님에 대해 신경 써
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