-지 않아도 되다
ji anado doeda
Grammar · 1 sense
Does not have to
Examples
유치원생은 버스 요금을 내지 않아도 돼요.
Preschool students don't have to pay the bus fare.
평일이니까 영화 표를 미리 사지 않아도 돼요.
Because it's a weekday, we don't have to buy tickets in advance.
When you'd hear it
This pattern is common in everyday speech and polite conversation, including school, travel, workplaces, and dramas. In casual speech, 되다 often becomes 돼, as in -지 않아도 돼.
What learners get wrong
-지 않아도 되다 means “does not have to,” not “must not”; the prohibition “must not” is -지 않으면 안 되다 or -면 안 되다. Compare the subject’s obligation, rather than simply translating 지 않다 as “not.”
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