TSUMUGU · TBCL 1 (est.) · 語法
不
grammar point · tier 1 · 不 — negation (not / won't / no)
· bù
Denies a state, a quality, an intention, or a habit — present, general, or future. (For past completion, use 沒.)
字源 FORM what the parts do 不 carries two old tellings: a bird climbing and not coming down, or a flower's calyx, the cup under the bloom. Either way an upward bar that turns a thing back. Negation borrowed the whole graph and set it before the verb.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by A thing rises toward the verb and the bar throws it back down before it lands.
字源 記憶法
框 · Frame
[subj] 不 [verb / adj]
觸 · Trigger
You want to say something isn't so, won't happen, or isn't done as a habit.
序 · The move
1 name what is being denied: a state, quality, intention, or habit is this about completion or the past? then it is 沒, not 不
2 set 不 directly before the verb or adjective does 不 sit right in front of the word it bars?
3 leave the rest of the clause as it stands did anything slip between 不 and its verb?
例 · Examplesshown tap blur
1 我不not (bars the state) 是be / is-so 學生。
I'm not a student.
界 · Boundary
沒 不 bars will, quality, and habit — won't / isn't-so (我不去, 我不高). 沒 bars completion and possession — didn't / hasn't (我沒去, 我沒有). 不 faces the intention; 沒 faces the record.
denying completion with 不: 我不去了，剛回來 → 我沒去（didn't go）
denying possession with 不: 我不有錢 → 我沒有錢
wrapping the adjective in 是: 我不是高 → 我不高（不 lands straight on the adjective, no 是）
English 'not / no' covers both jobs at once, so learners reach for 不 where the past or completion calls for 沒.
族 · Family
一點也/都+不/沒 Emphatic total negation: not even the smallest amount, so none at all. 不免 Marks an outcome as unavoidable given the situation: the following state or reaction is bound to come, one can't help it. 不太/不很 it falls short of the mark rather than flatly failing. 不太 is the everyday softener; 不很 is rarer and confined to set contexts. 不用/不必 Cancels a requirement before a verb: the action was expected or needed, and now it no longer is. 不用 and 不必 are interchangeable here. 不見得 Denies that a conclusion necessarily follows: the expected result is not guaranteed, though it may still hold. 並不/並沒 Sets 並 before a negation to deny an assumption the listener is expected to hold: contrary to what you'd think, not so. 再也不/沒 Marks that an action will never happen again: 不 for a future/habitual stop, 沒 for a past stretch in which it has not recurred. 別（再）…了 Tells the listener to break off an action already in progress; 再 adds "any more," 了 marks the turn to the new state. 從來不/沒… 不 for a standing habit (never does), 沒 for completion (never has, paired with 過). [時段] 沒 [動詞] Measures how long an action has been absent: the duration sits before the negated verb and counts the empty stretch, not the doing. Final 了 stretches the gap up to now. 未曾 Negates the experiential: states an event has not once happened up to now; formal counterpart of 從來沒…過. 沒有一…不/沒…的 Universal claim by double negation: not one single case fails the predicate, so every case meets it without exception. 絕不 Sets 絕 before 不 to drive a negation to its limit: under no circumstances, with no exception left standing. 還沒有 Marks an action or state as not done up to now, and still pending: 還 holds the not-yet open and points it forward to an expected change. （請）+VP A verb phrase with the subject dropped stands alone as a command aimed at the listener; 請 in front bows the order into a request. 不要 Tells the listener to stop or not do an action; 請 in front softens the command to a polite request. 別 Tells the listener not to do an action; 請 in front bows the command into a polite request. （請）勿 Bars an action in formal or written notice: do not, must not; 請 prepended softens the ban to a courteous request.