Negation with '不' — Mandarin Grammar

(bùㄅㄨˋpu4) negates present, future, and habitual actions: (wǒ bù hē kā·fēiㄨㄛˇ ㄅㄨˋ ㄏㄜㄎㄚ·ㄈㄟwo3 pu4 ho1 k'a1·fei1) — I don't drink coffee. For past or completed actions, use (méiㄇㄟˊmei2) instead.

Before a fourth tone, (bùㄅㄨˋpu4) changes to second tone: (bú shìㄅㄨˊ ㄕˋpu2 shih4). It also negates adjectives directly: (bù hǎoㄅㄨˋ ㄏㄠˇpu4 hao3) — not good.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Mandarin course

56 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 40. A few of them, with the words “Negation with '不'” is about in bold:

你感觉怎么样？好还是不好？
nǐ gǎn·jué zěn·me·yàng? hǎo hái·shi bù hǎo?ㄋㄧˇ ㄍㄢˇ·ㄐㄩㄝˊ ㄗㄣˇ·˙ㄇㄜ·ㄧㄤˋ? ㄏㄠˇ ㄏㄞˊ·˙ㄕㄅㄨˋ ㄏㄠˇ?ni3 kan3·chüeh2 tsên3·mê·yang4? hao3 hai2·shih pu4 hao3?
How are you feeling? Good or bad?
Lesson 61

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Sentences from Lingora’s Mandarin course

More Mandarin grammar

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