"A man who does not drink"

Translation: 마시지 않는 남자

[LinaMinyard]

Can someone explain why 감자 comes last instead of first in this sentence?
Is it because of the topic particle on the verb?

[wintertriangles]

Yes, the verb gets a topic particle because it's acting like an adjective to describe the noun, thus it goes before the noun.

[Calyope3]

*남자 haha isnt 감자 potato? Sorry i know its small but sometimes people refer to themselves as potatoes and i found this ironic.

[rkirsling]

It's actually not a topic particle, it just happens that conjugating a verb to make a relative clause often looks like one. This is the phrase "the doesn't-drink man". It's actually more convenient than English, because in Korean, descriptive phrases come on the same side of the noun as descriptive words (adjectives, like "tall") do.

[pluureng]

The literal translation of the sentence would be 'A non-drinking man."

[dpatkat]

The "drink-not" man.
The "---는 " here is a different thing from the particles used with the other subject topic lessons. Same spelling, different purposes.

Here this one changes verbals to descriotive that act like adjectives. And that includes negative like this phrase.

Descriotive verbals just like in English adjectives must be in front of the noun.

drink-not man

[Conny647587]

In English, this phrase would specific relate to not drinking alcohol. Is that the same in Korean?

[EmunaVinograd]

Can you say 안 마시는 남자?

[jlseymour3]

I would think so, but it wasn't accepted. I'll be reporting unless someone can explain why. Reported 7/24/18.