不 and 没有 Negate 4,671 Bible Clauses
Answering: “difference between bu and meiyou”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
不 denies what is or will be; 没有 denies that something happened or exists. The point is keyed on 没有 rather than 没, because in this corpus 没 is usually the verb 'to drown' (冲没, 灭没).
- HSK level
- 1
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 4,671
- clauses
- Meet it first in
- Jeremiah
- where it is commonest
- How sure
- Counted
- 100% of a checked sample
Practise it
Tap the words that carry the pattern.
，，，；
The same verses, in full
Easiest first: ranked by how much of each verse sits at or below HSK 1, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
因为yīn wèi我wǒ饿è了le，你们nǐ men不bù给gěi我wǒ吃chī，渴kě了le，你们nǐ men不bù给gěi我wǒ喝hē；
for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;
Matthew 25:42 · 94% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
三sān日rì不能bù néng看见kàn jiàn，也yě不bù吃chī也yě不bù喝hē。
He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank.
Acts 9:9 · 90% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他们tā men说shuō：「你nǐ亲族qīn zú中zhōng没有méi yǒu叫jiào这zhè名字míng zi的de。」
They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.”
Luke 1:61 · 90% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
耶稣yē sū就jiù对duì他们tā men说shuō：「我wǒ的de时候shí hou还hái没有méi yǒu到dào；你们nǐ men的de时候shí hou常cháng是shì方便fāng biàn的de。
Jesus therefore said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.
John 7:6 · 89% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
我wǒ还hái在zài你们nǐ men那里nà li的de时候shí hou，曾céng把bǎ这些zhè xiē事shì告诉gào sù你们nǐ men，你们nǐ men不bú记得jì de吗ma？
Don’t you remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things?
2 Thessalonians 2:5 · 88% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他们tā men若ruò对duì我们wǒ men说shuō：『你们nǐ men站住zhàn zhù，等děng我们wǒ men到dào你们nǐ men那里nà li去qù』，我们wǒ men就jiù站住zhàn zhù，不bú上shàng他们tā men那里nà li去qù。
If they say this to us, ‘Wait until we come to you!’ then we will stand still in our place and will not go up to them.
1 Samuel 14:9 · 86% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read Matthew 25 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 1 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 1 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
Chinese has two negations and picking between them is not optional. 不 denies what is, will be, or is habitually so; 没有 denies that something happened or exists. 不去 is will not go, 没有去 is did not go. Both go in front of the word they deny, so the negation is always visible before the verb arrives.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 不 3,044 times, 没有 1,716 times. 89 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
This point is keyed on 没有 rather than the single character 没, and for a reason worth knowing: in this translation 没 on its own is usually the verb mò, to drown or to inundate — 冲没, 灭没. The dictionary the site ships grades it that way too. Taking it for the negation would have put the wrong reading and the wrong meaning on the page.
The rule is: 不 or 没有 immediately before another word — the thing being denied. 30 of its 4,671 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 100% were right. Recall is not measured, so the figure is what this rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|
| 不 | bù | 1 | 2,104 |
| 不 | bú | 1 | 937 |
| 不 | bu | 1 | 3 |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | 1 | 1,716 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 1.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 4,671 | 98% |
| the same words doing something else | 89 | 2% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Jeremiah | 310 |
| Isaiah | 289 |
| Psalms | 256 |
| John | 227 |
| Leviticus | 205 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
Counted
The rule: 不 or 没有 immediately before another word — the thing being denied.
30 of 4,671 matches were drawn at random and read in context; 100% were right. Checked by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker. Recall is not measured: this is what the rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
This point is HSK 1 because that is the highest HSK level of the point's own function words, as data/dict.json grades them; a word the HSK lists do not grade sends the point to 'beyond'.
Questions
- Which negation goes with 有?
- 没. 不有 does not exist: the negation of 有 is 没有, and that pairing is why 没有 also became the general way to say something did not happen.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 4,671 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 4,760 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Jeremiah, with 310 — followed by Isaiah (289), Psalms (256), John (227).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 不 or 没有 immediately before another word — the thing being denied. 30 of its 4,671 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 100% were right. Recall is not measured, so the figure is what this rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
Related reference pages
Take it further
- 97 ready-made vocabulary decks — by HSK level, by book or by topic, exportable to Anki, Pleco or Quizlet.
- Printable 田字格 worksheets — passages with pinyin, meanings and tracing rows.
- The parallel reader — Chinese, pinyin and your own language side by side, every word tappable.
- The dataset behind these numbers — plain JSON, free to reuse with attribution.
How this was measured
Edition: Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified). Every figure comes from one pass over all 1,189 chapters and 31,021 verses, 650,628word tokens in total, using the site’s own segmentation. A construction count is published only when a hand-checked sample of the rule that found it was at least 90% correct; between 70% and that it is published as an approximation, and below it no count is published at all. Generated 2026-09-26.