不再…了grammar point · tier 2 · no longer: a state that has stopped (不再…了)
Marks a state or habit that used to hold and has now ended: 不 forbids the next repetition, 再 is that repetition, 了 closes the door behind into the new situation.
Marks a state or habit that used to hold and has now ended
框 · Frame
[subj] 不再 [verb (+ obj)] 了
觸 · Trigger
Something that kept happening or held true before has stopped, and you mark the change.
序 · The move
1Fix the old state — what used to keep happening or stay true.Was there a real prior state? If nothing held before, 不再 is wrong; use plain 不.
2Put 不再 in front of the verb to shut off the next occurrence.不 and 再 sit together, before the verb, not split across it.
3Close with 了 at the sentence end to mark the crossing into the new situation.Drop 了 and it reads as a standing rule, not a change. The change needs 了.
不 says it is not so, with no prior state implied. 不再…了 requires a state that used to hold and has now ended — the 了 marks the crossing.
再也不…了 (never again, emphatic)
不再…了 reports a calm stop: it no longer happens. 再也不…了 puts 也 after 再 to slam the door — never, not once more, ever.
沒再 (the repetition did not happen, past)
不再 forbids the repetition going forward (will not / does not anymore). 沒再 reports that, in fact, it did not happen again up to now.
他不擔心錢了 (omits 再, loses the 'no longer / used to' force) → 他不再擔心錢了
他再不擔心了 (再不 reverses to a threat/decision reading) → 他不再擔心了
他不再擔心錢 (drops 了, reads as a standing rule, not a change) → 他不再擔心錢了
English 'no longer / not anymore' is one adverb dropped anywhere; Mandarin splits the load — 不再 before the verb shuts off the repetition, 了 at the end marks the change. Leaving off 了 loses the 'has now stopped' that English packs into 'anymore'.