The Chinese teachers at eChineseLearning often encounter the age-old problem relating to 不 (bù), and 没 (méi). When the teacher asks certain questions to which the answer could be ‘no’, many non-Chinese native students would use the wrong negation word to answer.
For example, let’s take the question ‘Jīntiān nǐ qù xuéxiào ma? 今天你去学校吗?’ (are you going to school today?).
Upon being asked this question, students often end up responding by saying ‘yǒu xuéxiào 有学校’ (there is a school), or ‘méi (yǒu) xuéxiào 没（有）学校’ (there is no school). In this instance, the negation word incorrectly used by the students is ‘méi 没’. Whilst this may make sense in another context, does it actually answer the question at hand?
Which word should we use to negate the answer to this question, “bù 不” or “méi 没”? Click on the video below, whereby a teacher explains this complication, with detailed information to help your child fully grasp this point.
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