# 不 and 没有 Negate 4,671 Bible Clauses

> 不 and 没有 stand before the word they deny in 4,671 clauses of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), the two negations covering different ground.

**Pattern:** 不 + verb (present or future) · 没有 + verb (did not happen)
**HSK level:** 1 — 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'
**Rule used to find it:** 不 or 没有 immediately before another word — the thing being denied.
**Confidence:** counted — 30 of 4,671 matches checked, 100% correct, by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker

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.

## Examples

- **Matthew 25:42** — 因为我饿了，你们不给我吃，渴了，你们不给我喝；
  - yīn wèi wǒ è le ， nǐ men bù gěi wǒ chī ， kě le ， nǐ men bù gěi wǒ hē ；
  - for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;
  - construction: 不给
- **Acts 9:9** — 三日不能看见，也不吃也不喝。
  - sān rì bù néng kàn jiàn ， yě bù chī yě bù hē 。
  - He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank.
  - construction: 不吃
- **Luke 1:61** — 他们说：「你亲族中没有叫这名字的。」
  - tā men shuō ：「 nǐ qīn zú zhōng méi yǒu jiào zhè míng zi de 。」
  - They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.”
  - construction: 没有叫
- **John 7:6** — 耶稣就对他们说：「我的时候还没有到；你们的时候常是方便的。
  - yē sū jiù duì tā men shuō ：「 wǒ de shí hou hái méi yǒu dào ； nǐ men de shí hou cháng shì fāng biàn de 。
  - Jesus therefore said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.
  - construction: 没有到
- **2 Thessalonians 2:5** — 我还在你们那里的时候，曾把这些事告诉你们，你们不记得吗？
  - wǒ hái zài nǐ men nà li de shí hou ， céng bǎ zhè xiē shì gào sù nǐ men ， nǐ men bú jì de ma ？
  - Don’t you remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things?
  - construction: 不记得
- **1 Samuel 14:9** — 他们若对我们说：『你们站住，等我们到你们那里去』，我们就站住，不上他们那里去。
  - tā men ruò duì wǒ men shuō ：『 nǐ men zhàn zhù ， děng wǒ men dào nǐ men nà li qù 』， wǒ men jiù zhàn zhù ， bú shàng tā men nà li 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.
  - construction: 不上

## The words this point is built on

| 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.

## What those occurrences are doing

|  | Occurrences | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| the construction | 4,671 | 98% |
| the same words doing something else | 89 | 2% |

## Where it occurs most

| 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.

## 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.

Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/grammar/negation

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