Questions with 不 (bù) and 没 (méi)

In Chinese, there are more than one way to ask questions. Besides interrogative pronouns, there is a way to ask if the answer you are looking for is a simple "yes" or "no." We are talking about questions with 不 (bù) and 没 (méi).

In this post, we'll talk about a way to ask these questions, that can also be called "affirmative-negative" questions. Why? Because they consist of an afirmative statement while at the same time denying it.

Questions with 不 (bù) and 没 (méi)

These questions are formed by duplicating the verb and including an adverb of negation, which can be 不 (bù) for present or future situations, or 没 (méi) for the past.

How to answer

As it happens with questions formed with the particle 吗 (ma), these "affirmative-negative" questions are answered with the same verb or adjective as the question itself.

Adverbs of negation

The adverbs of negation are placed before the verb and, as mentioned above, we use 不 (bù) to deny the present and future tenses and 没 (méi) to deny the past (了 [le] is not used).

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