TOPIK I Grammar · Ch.4 Negation 03

TOPIK I Grammar · Ch.4 Negation 03

'-지 마세요' - How to Say "Please Don't"

You can negate your own actions now. The last piece of the negation chapter is telling someone else not to do something - politely. English flips "Do it" into "Don't do it"; Korean has a dedicated polite form for exactly this purpose.

Key point Verb stem + -지 마세요 = "please don't ~". 걱정하지 마세요 (= please don't worry). The politeness is already built in - no extra "please" needed.

How to use it

The mapping to English is direct: "Don't + verb" becomes verb stem + -지 마세요. What English adds with a separate word - "please don't" - Korean already carries inside the ending. So 가지 마세요 covers both "don't go" and "please don't go" in one form.

One thing to notice: this is a different word from the 않다 you learned in the previous lesson. 않다 states facts ("I don't go"); 말다 - the verb hiding inside 마세요 - stops actions ("don't go!"). Statements use 않다, prohibitions use 말다. Attach it to any verb stem, batchim or not - the form never changes: 먹지 마세요, 늦지 마세요, 잊지 마세요.

At a glance

Verb	-지 마세요 form	Meaning
가다 (go)	가지 마세요	please don't go
먹다 (eat)	먹지 마세요	please don't eat it
걱정하다 (worry)	걱정하지 마세요	please don't worry
잊다 (forget)	잊지 마세요	please don't forget
늦다 (be late)	늦지 마세요	please don't be late

Examples

박물관에서 사진을 찍지 마세요. Please don't take photos in the museum. - The sign-and-announcement form you'll see all over Korea.

너무 걱정하지 마세요. 괜찮아요. Don't worry too much - it's okay. - Probably the most-used 마세요 sentence in daily life.

여기에 쓰레기를 버리지 마세요. Please don't throw your trash here. - Public prohibitions naturally take this form.

Common mistakes

❌ 여기에서 담배를 피우지 않으세요. → ⭕ 담배를 피우지 마세요. 않다 can't give commands - it only describes. To tell someone not to do something, the verb must be 말다. If your sentence is an instruction, reach for 마세요.

❌ 늦지 말으세요. → ⭕ 늦지 마세요. 말다 drops its ㄹ in this form: 말 + 세요 → 마세요. Writing out 말으세요 is a natural-looking guess, but the ㄹ is gone for good here.

Quick check

Fill in each blank. Change the verb in the parentheses to the -지 마세요 form.
1. 도서관에서 큰 소리로 (      ). (말하다)
2. 수업 시간에 (      ). (자다)
3. 약속 시간에 (      ). (늦다)

Show answers

1. 말하지 마세요 (stem 말하 + 지 마세요)   2. 자지 마세요 (stem 자)   3. 늦지 마세요 (a batchim does not change the form)

💡 Study tip - Collect signs, not sentences. Korean public spaces are full of -지 마세요 and its formal twin -지 마십시오: 만지지 마세요 (don't touch), 들어가지 마세요 (don't enter). Photos of real signs make perfect flashcards - each one is a complete, correct sentence a native speaker wrote for you.