Negation of past actions with "meiyou"

Structure

Usually verbs can be negated with 不. If the verb is about an action in the past, though, 没有 should be used:

Subject + 没有 + Verb

Examples

• 他们 没有 说话。
• 我 没有 喝 你的 啤酒。
• 她 没有 看到 你。
• 我 没有 吃 早饭。

Note that you can shorten 没有 to just 没:

• 我 没 去。

Remember that 了 is never used with 没有. 了 marks completed actions, whilst 没有 is used for actions that didn't happen. These two don't work together.

See also

• Negation of "you"
• Standard negation with bu

Sources and further reading

Books

• Practicing HSK Grammar (语法精讲精炼) (pp. 32) →buy
• 现代汉语八百词（增订本） (pp. 383) →buy