Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
不 and 没: how to say no in Chinese
Original Chinese study material with English explanations. Simplified Chinese with pinyin; beginner, intermediate and advanced are editorial difficulty labels.
不 (bù) commonly negates habits, wishes and present or future judgements. 没 or 没有 (méiyǒu) negates possession and commonly denies that an event happened. Reply to a question by negating the relevant verb.
我不喝咖啡。
Wǒ bù hē kāfēi.
I do not drink coffee.
我昨天没去学校。
Wǒ zuótiān méi qù xuéxiào.
I did not go to school yesterday.
Say 没有, not 不有, for not having. 不 is pronounced bú before another fourth-tone syllable; pinyin here generally shows dictionary tones.
Try it
Complete “I do not have a ticket”: 我___票。
- 不有
- 没有
- 不是
Answer and explanation
没有. 没有 negates possession.