The Difference Between 不 and 没 | Structures & Examples

Q: What is the difference between 不 and 没?

The main difference between 不 and 没 is that 不 is used for present and future sentences. 没 is solely used for sentences written in the past tense. Both characters have many uses, check out our full article for more explanation and sentence examples.

Q: What is the pinyin of 不 and 没?

不 is pronounced bù. 没 is pronounced méi. Do you know about the Chinese tones? Read this super helpful guide to remember them FOREVER.

Q: What are some examples of the 不 and 没 structures?

– 我不吃肉。 wǒ bù chī ròu. I don’t eat meat. – 老板明天不来。 lǎobǎn míngtiān bù lái. The boss won’t come tomorrow. – 你们周末上不上班？ nǐmen zhōumò shàng bù shàngbān. Will you go to work this weekend? – 我昨天没喝酒。 wǒ zuótiān méi hējiǔ. I didn’t drink alcohol yesterday – 妈妈没做晚饭。 māmā méi zuò wǎnfàn. Mom didn’t cook dinner. – 你吃没吃过中国菜？ nǐ chī méi chīguò zhōngguó cài? Have you ever tried Chinese food?

Q: How to learn Chinese grammar?

Just like for any other language, start with the basics. First of all, Chinese is a SVO language (Subject – Verb – Object), like many European languages and English. Add to that a negation word or a question word , and you can now express yourself in a lot of new different ways! Take it slow and nail the basics down before learning more complex sentences. 加油！

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USING 不 AND 没

Many learners get confused with these two characters because both of them have the meaning “not” as a negation word in English, but they are used quite differently.

In this article, we will cover all usages of 不 and 没, so by the end, you’ll become a master at using negative sentences!

不 AND 没 IN DECLARATIVE SENTENCES

不 (bù) in Declarative Sentences

不 (bù) negates present actions

不 (bù) shows that an activity isn’t happening. It’s used to oppose an action you do not want to do.

PATTERN

Subject + 不 + Verb

^{nǐ chī zǎofàn ma?}

你吃早饭吗？

_{Do you eat breakfast?}

^{wǒ bù chī.}

我不吃。

_{No I don’t.}

不 (bù) negates habitual actions

不 (bù) can be used to oppose habitual actions, which indicates something you are not used to doing.

PATTERN

Subject + 不 + Verb + Object

^{wǒ bù chī ròu}

我不吃肉。

_{I don’t eat meat.}

^{nǐmen dōu bù hējiǔ ma}

你们都不喝酒吗？

_{Don’t you all drink alcohol?}

不 (bù) negates future actions

不 (bù) is used to negate an action that you do not intend to do.

PATTERN

Subject + 不 + Verb

^{lǎobǎn míngtiān bù lái.}

老板明天不来。

_{The boss won’t come tomorrow.}

^{wǒ zhīdào zhège zhōumò bù xià yǔ}

我知道这个周末不下雨。

_{I know it won’t rain this weekend.}

没 (méi) in Declarative Sentences

没 (méi) negates past actions (can be replaced by 没有）

没 (méi) is used to refute/deny actions that occurred in the past.

PATTERN

Subject + 没 + Verb + Object

^{wǒ zuótiān méi hējiǔ.}

我昨天没喝酒。

_{I didn’t drink alcohol yesterday}

^{tā zuótiān méi dǎ diànhuà gěi wǒ}

他昨天没打电话给我。

_{He didn’t call me yesterday.}

没 (méi) can say something has not happened yet

PATTERN

Subject + 没 + Verb + Object

^{tāmen chī wán fàn yǐhòu méi fù qián}

他们吃完饭以后没付钱。

_{They didn’t pay after eating.}

^{māmā méi zuò wǎnfàn}

妈妈没做晚饭。

_{Mom didn’t cook dinner.}

没 (méi) can be used to indicate something has not been experienced

“过” has to be used after the verb.

PATTERN #1

Subject + 没 + Verb + 过 + Object

我没吃过中国菜。
wǒ méi chīguò zhōngguó cài
I have never eaten Chinese food

PATTERN #2

Subject + (从来) 没 + 去 + 过 + place

我(从来)没去过中国。
wǒ (cónglái) méi qùguò zhōngguó
I have never (ever) been to China

View More Phrases

我不吃早饭。	wǒ bù chī zǎofàn.
我没吃早饭。	wǒ méi chī zǎofàn

When using 不(bù), it means that you normally “do not” eat breakfast.

When using 没(méi), however, the meaning changes to saying you “did not” eat breakfast, implying that you’re talking about “what you did not do today”.

我不喝酒。(habitual actions)	我没喝酒。(negate past actions)
✅ 我明天不喝酒。	❌ 我昨天不喝酒。
❌ 我明天没喝酒。	✅ 我昨天没喝酒。

BONUS: 不 + adjective

不 (bù) is used with adjectives. When it comes to a simple negation of an adjective, use 不 (bù).

PATTERN

Subject + 不 + Adjective

^{wǒ bù è}

我不饿。

_{I am not hungry.}

^{nǐ bù pàng}

你不胖。

_{You are not fat.}

^{jīntiān bù lěng}

今天不冷。

_{It is not cold today.}

The negation of adjectives is generally used “不”, but sometimes you can hear 没 + adjective, which implies that the state has not changed.

^{wǒ bù pàng}

我不胖。

_{I am not fat.}

^{wǒ méi pàng}

我没胖。

_{I have not gained weight.}

不 AND 没 IN INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES

Question with 没 (méi)

As mentioned previously, 没 is used with the past tense, as well as to describe that something has not yet been experienced or didn’t happen yet.

PATTERN

Subject + Verb + 没 + Verb + Object？

^{zuótiān nǐ chī méi chī sìchuān cài?}

昨天你吃没吃四川菜？

_{Did you eat Sichuan food yesterday?}

^{shàng gè yuè nǐmen qù méi qù lǚyóu?}

上个月你们去没去旅游？

_{Did you go travel last month?}

Subject + Verb + 没 + Verb + 过 + Object？	Subject + 去 + 没 + 去 + 过 + place？
你吃没吃过中国菜？ nǐ chī méi chīguò zhōngguó cài? Have you ever tried Chinese food?	你去没去过中国? nǐ qù méi qùguò zhōngguó? Have you ever been to China?

Question with 不 (bù)

As mentioned, 不 is used for present or future actions. It is the same in the interrogative form:

PATTERN

Subject + Verb + 不 + Verb + Object？

*Present or habit actions*	*Future actions*
你吃不吃四川菜? nǐ chī bù chī sìchuān cài Do you eat Sichuan food?	你们周末上不上班？ nǐmen zhōumò shàng bù shàngbān Will you go to work this weekend?

不 (bù) can also be used to form tag questions.

PATTERN

Sentence，好+不+好 / 对+不+对？

^{wǒmen qù chīfàn, hǎo bù hǎo?}

我们去吃饭，好不好？

_{Let’s go to dinner, ok?}

Tag questions are used to seek approval or acceptance for a statement, very similar to the English “OK?” or “right?”

You can’t use 没 (méi) for this.

❌ 我们去游泳，好没好？	❌. 你们是好朋友，对没对？
✅ 我们去游泳，好不好?	✅ 你们是好朋友，对不对?

不, 没 AND 是, 有, 在

Only 不 (bù) negates 是 (shì)

不 (bù) can be used to reverse the verb 是 (shì), which is the word for ‘to be’ changing the meaning “to not be”.

PATTERN

Subject + 不 + 是 + predictive

我不是医生。 (present) wǒ bùshì yīshēng I am not a doctor	我以前不是老师。 (past) wǒ yǐqián bùshì lǎoshī I was not a teacher before
今天不是星期一。 jīntiān bùshì xīngqí yī Today is not Monday	昨天不是8月15号。 zuótiān bùshì 8 yuè 15 hào Yesterday was not August 15th

Only 没 (méi) negates 有 (yǒu)

没 (méi) can be used to negate the verb 有 (yǒu) (to have) to mean “do not have”.

PATTERN

Subject + 没 + 有 + Object

^{wǒ méiyǒu shū.}

我没有书。

_{I don’t have books.}

^{wǒ méiyǒu nǚ péngyǒu.}

我没有女朋友。

_{I don’t have a girlfriend.}

Both 不 (bù) and 没 (méi) can negate 在 (zài)

And they have the same meaning (to be in/at)!

昨天我没在家。= 昨天我不在家。
zuótiān wǒ méi zàijiā = zuótiān wǒ bù zàijiā.
I was not home yesterday.

✅ 我不是学生。	❌ 我不有钱。
❌ 我没是学生。	✅ 我没有钱。

NOTE || “没有 + verb + Object” and “没 + 有 + Object”

Subject + 没有 + Verb + Object	Subject + 没 + 有 + Object
我没有喝酒。 wǒ méiyǒu hējiǔ. I didn’t drink wine yesterday.	我没有酒。 wǒ méiyǒu jiǔ. I don’t have wine.
没有 = 没	没 + 有 (verb)

In the above example, “有” can be omitted and the meaning doesn’t change.

COMPARISONS WITH 不 AND 没

不 (bù) can be used to make simple comparisons such as “not as… as…”:

PATTERN

Noun 1 + 不比 / 不如 + Noun 2 + Adjective

^{wǒ de shǒujī bùbǐ tā de shǒujī guì.}

我的手机不比他的手机贵。

_{My phone is not as expensive as his phone.}

^{wǒ de shū bùrú tā de shū duō.}

我的书不如他的书多。

_{My books are not as many as his.}

没 (méi) or 没有 (méiyǒu) can also be used to make simple comparisons such as “not as… as…”:

PATTERN

Noun 1 + 没有 + Noun 2 + Adjective

^{nǐ méiyǒu wǒ gāo.}

你没有我高。

_{You are not as tall as me.}

^{shànghǎi de dōngtiān méiyǒu běijīng de dōngtiān lěng.}

上海的冬天没有北京的冬天冷。

_{The winter in Shanghai is not as cold as the winter in Beijing.}

COLLOCATIONS OF 不 AND 没

It’s best to accumulate these one by one.

没 (méi)

没办法	méi bànfǎ	There is no way.
我没办法。= 我没有办法。	wǒ méi bànfǎ.= wǒ méiyǒu bànfǎ.	I don’t have a way.

不 (bù)

不知道	bù zhīdào	Don’t know
不认识	bù rènshi	Don’t know (a person)
我不知道他要来	wǒ bù zhīdào tā yào lái	I didn’t know he was coming.
他小时候不认识她	tā xiǎoshíhòu bù rènshí tā	He did not know her when he was young.

可不 (是)

When we use 可不 or 可不是 as an independent expression, even with negative word 不, it means “Exactly!”.

A：地铁上的人真多!
dìtiě shàng de rén zhēn duō!
There are so many people on the subway!

B: 可不 (是) !
kěbù (shì)!
That’s so true!

不 AND 没 EXPRESSING AFFIRMATIVE

不 and 没 usually indicate negative expressions, which makes it confusing, since they can also represent affirmative expressions.

好容易 and 好不容易 (very easy and very not easy)

容易 (rónɡyì) means “easy”, and 好 (hǎo) here is used as an adverb which means “very“.

In this sense, these two phrases are expressing two opposite meanings. However, they are both used before verbs to indicate how difficult it is to do something.

I finally passed the HSK test for level 6:

我好容易通过了HSK六级考试。	wǒ hǎo rónɡyì tōnɡɡuòle liùjí kǎoshì.
我好不容易通过了HSK六级考试。	wǒ hǎo bù rónɡyì tōnɡɡuòle liùjí kǎoshì.

We finally climbed to the mountain top:

我们好容易爬到了山顶。	wǒmen hǎo rónɡyì pá dàole shāndǐnɡ.
我们好不容易爬到了山顶。	wǒmen hǎo bù rónɡyì pá dàole shāndǐnɡ.

差点 and 差点没 (almost and almost not)

When they are followed by things that people want to happen, both 差点 (chàdiǎn) and 差点没 (chàdiǎn méi) express the opposite meanings for the following verbs.

差点: negative ≠ 差点没: affirmative

I almost passed the HSK test for level 6: 我差点通过了HSK六级考试。(wǒ chàdiǎn tōnɡɡuòle liùjí kǎoshì.)

Even though there’s no negative word in this example, it still means “I didn’t pass the test”.

I just barely passed the HSK test for level 6. 我差点没通过HSK六级考试. (wǒ chàdiǎn méi tōnɡɡuò liùjí kǎoshì.)

There’s a negative word 没 in this example, but it means “I passed the test”.

When they are followed by things that people don’t want to happen, both 差点 (chàdiǎn) and 差点没 (chàdiǎn méi) mean that thing didn’t happen.

差点 = 差点没: negative

I almost broke the cup:

我差点摔坏了杯子。	wǒ chàdiǎn shuāihuàile bēizi.
我差点没摔坏杯子。	wǒ chàdiǎn méi shuāihuài bēizi.

Both sentences mean “I didn’t break the cup”.

My wallet almost got stolen:

我的钱包差点被偷了。	wǒde qiánbāo chàdiǎn bèi tōule.
我的钱包差点没被偷。	wǒde qiánbāo chàdiǎn méi bèi tōu.

Both sentences mean “My wallet wasn’t stolen”.

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FAQs

What is the difference between 不 and 没?

The main difference between 不 and 没 is that 不 is used for present and future sentences.

没 is solely used for sentences written in the past tense.

Both characters have many uses, check out our full article for more explanation and sentence examples.

What is the pinyin of 不 and 没?

不 is pronounced bù.

没 is pronounced méi.

Do you know about the Chinese tones? Read this super helpful guide to remember them FOREVER.

How to use 不?

不 has lots of different uses, here are the main ones, check out our article for more explanations.

1) 不 (bù) Negates present actions: Subject + 不 + Verb

2) 不 (bù) Negates habitual actions: Subject + 不 + Verb + Object

3) 不 (bù) Negates future actions: Subject + 不 + Verb

4) 不 (bù) is used with adjectives: Subject + 不 + Adjective

5) Question with 不 (bù): Subject + Verb + 不 + Verb + Object？

How to use 没?

Just like 不, 没 can be used in various situations, even though only used in the past tense. Here are some of the main structures:

1) 没 / 没有 Negates Past Actions: Subject + 没 + Verb + Object

2) 没 (méi) can say something has not happened yet: Subject + 没 + Verb + Object

3) 没 (méi) can use to indicate something has not been experienced: Subject + 没 + Verb + 过 + Object

4) Question with 没: Subject + Verb + 没 + Verb + Obj？

What are some examples of the 不 and 没 structures?

– 我不吃肉。wǒ bù chī ròu. I don’t eat meat.

– 老板明天不来。lǎobǎn míngtiān bù lái. The boss won’t come tomorrow.

– 你们周末上不上班？nǐmen zhōumò shàng bù shàngbān. Will you go to work this weekend?

– 我昨天没喝酒。wǒ zuótiān méi hējiǔ. I didn’t drink alcohol yesterday

– 妈妈没做晚饭。māmā méi zuò wǎnfàn. Mom didn’t cook dinner.

– 你吃没吃过中国菜？ nǐ chī méi chīguò zhōngguó cài? Have you ever tried Chinese food?

How to learn Chinese grammar?

Just like for any other language, start with the basics.

First of all, Chinese is a SVO language (Subject – Verb – Object), like many European languages and English. Add to that a negation word or a question word, and you can now express yourself in a lot of new different ways!

Take it slow and nail the basics down before learning more complex sentences. 加油！

不 AND 没 IN DECLARATIVE SENTENCES

不 (bù) in Declarative Sentences

不 (bù) negates present actions

PATTERN

不 (bù) negates habitual actions

PATTERN

不 (bù) negates future actions

PATTERN

没 (méi) in Declarative Sentences

没 (méi) negates past actions (can be replaced by 没有）

PATTERN

没 (méi) can say something has not happened yet

PATTERN

没 (méi) can be used to indicate something has not been experienced

PATTERN #1

PATTERN #2

BONUS: 不 + adjective

PATTERN

不 AND 没 IN INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES

Question with 没 (méi)

PATTERN

Question with 不 (bù)

PATTERN

PATTERN

不, 没 AND 是, 有, 在

Only 不 (bù) negates 是 (shì)

PATTERN

Only 没 (méi) negates 有 (yǒu)

PATTERN

Both 不 (bù) and 没 (méi) can negate 在 (zài)

COMPARISONS WITH 不 AND 没

PATTERN

PATTERN

COLLOCATIONS OF 不 AND 没

没 (méi)

不 (bù)

可不 (是)

不 AND 没 EXPRESSING AFFIRMATIVE

好容易 and 好不容易 (very easy and very not easy)

差点 and 差点没 (almost and almost not)

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