How do you say "No" in Chinese? || 不 vs 没有
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If you’ve ever asked a Chinese person “How do you say 'no' in Chinese?”, they may have hesitated before either saying “it depends”, or reluctantly saying “不”.
In any language, there are a number of ways we can say "no".
But in Chinese, in most cases, just two will do :)
“不” and “没有”.
Quick Look (TLDR):
- When we use "有", we ALWAYS say "没有" if we want to make it negative.
- For basically everything else, like adjectives and all other verbs, we use “不”. (ignoring verb tenses for now)
- For verb tenses, we use "没有" to say “have not” or "did not" (past tense)
- For verb tenses, we use "不" to say “do not” or "will not" (present/future)
Let's break them both down, starting with “没有” because it has a smaller scope.
(Don't forget to take the quiz at the end to check your comprehension!)
没有 (or just “没”)
You may already know that “有” means to have.
Well “没有” means is the go-to way to say “to not have”.
If you find yourself accidentally saying the "b.y." word, say “没有” ten times to push that memory far out of your mind. haha
(Seriously, please do it right now)
Example time:
你有车吗？Do you have [a] car?
没有。
Don’t have.
那里有人吗？
Is there anyone there?
没有。
Don’t have.
Note: As in the last example, “有” can also be used to talk about how many things are in a location. In English, we often translate it to "there is/are ...[object]"
A bit different from "在", this is more for saying things like: “There is a pen on the table”, or “there is a good restaurant near me.”
What about just “没”
If you ever see “没” by itself, it is just an abbreviation of “没有”.
So treat them EXACTLY the same.
“没有” for PAST tense
(Read: Only for past tense negative verbs)
Let's see some examples:*
你昨天去看球了吗？
Did you [go] watch the (sports) game yesterday?
没有
(I) Did not.
你去过中国吗？
Have you been ("gone") to China?
没有 / 没去过 *
(I) haven't | (I) haven't been ("gone")
It may also help to remember that PAST tense always sounds HOPEFUL in Chinese.
We don't say "I DIDN'T do" something". We say "I HAVEN'T done something". There's still time!
(I realize this concept breaks down when you put a SPECIFIC time in there, like "yesterday", but if it helps you remember, then great! 😛)
不
“不” is a bit more versatile than “没有”, and can be added in front of any adjective, and all other verbs except “有”.
Let’s take a look at some different examples:
不 + other basic verbs
Examples:
你是中国人吗?
Are you a Chinese person?
*不是。
Am not.
你吃肉吗？
Do you eat meat?
不吃。
[I] don't eat.
*Note: We will never use "没" with "是". Always "不".
不 + “helping” verb || I can’t, I don’t, I won’t
We have these things in Chinese called modal verbs in Chinese, which are similar to helping verbs in English.
These are words like “要, 会, 想, 喜欢” (will, can, want, like) that are usually paired with an action verb.
When responding to a question, we can simply say:
or
“不 + modal verb + action verb”
Examples:
你明天要去吗？
Do you want to go tomorrow?
不要 (去）。
Don’t want (to go).
你喜欢喝咖啡吗？
Do you like to drink coffee?
不喜欢。
Don’t like.
Note: Notice how for "喜欢", we did not include “喝” in parentheses.
That's because we will typically either just say "不喜欢" or include the object as well, e.g. "不喜欢喝咖啡”.
Often times, these modal/helping verbs will be used as future tense such as in the first example.
In this case, we can ONLY use 不.
不 vs 没有 Reminder
If your teacher asks you "Did you do your homework?", make sure you use "没有" (I did not/have not...), otherwise it will sound like "Pssh...I am not gonna do my homework/I don't do homework..."Your teacher may be mad that you didn't do your homework, but not as mad as if you said "forget you and your homework" 😂😂
不+ adjective
Very simply, we use "不" to negate adjectives.
Just put it right in front, nice and easy, no other changes.
Examples:
你的爸爸*高不高？
Is your dad tall?
不高.
Not tall.
这个菜好吃吗？
Is this dish tasty?
不好吃.
Not tasty. (kinda rude, but the grammar is correct! 🤭)
*Note： [Adj + 不 + Adj ] is another way to ask a yes/no question!
It also makes it REALLY easy to answer, since both answers are right there for us!!
Don’t just say “不”
Along the lines of the previous example, we will very seldom just say “不” in Chinese. It sounds a bit rude and blunt.
In general, it’s better to AT LEAST include part of the verb or the adjective back, so people don't think we're annoyed. 🤭
Cultural reminder: Chinese people CAN be very direct in some instances, but they still usually try to avoid directly offending someone. So, use discretion when talking about something you don't like, etc.
It should be obvious, but when we are excited to put our new language skills to use, sometimes we forget to be considerate. (let's try not to use the "foreign" card too much all at once 😅)
Recap:
- There are two main ways to say “no”: “不” and “没有”
- When we use "有", we ALWAYS say "没有" if we want to make it negative.
- For basically everything else, like adjectives and all other verbs, we use “不”. (ignoring verb tenses for now)
- For verb tenses, we use "没有" to say “have not” or "did not" (past tense)
- For verb tenses, we use "不" to say “do not” or "will not" (present/future)
Final Comprehension Check
Are you up for one final challenge?
Let's test your understand of how to say "no"!
You got this ;)