newbie: 不是 or 没有

[fij]

Dear All,

I'm a newbie. Could you please recommend helpful examples illustrating the difference between 不是 and 没有 ? I have the impression that "there is" and "there is not" are used/expressed differently in Chinese.

Many thanks.

[Sinogent]

Examples:

---Are you a Chinese? (你是中国人吗？)

---不，不是。（No, I am not）

＃＃＃“不是” is always used to deny a feature of something.

More questions like: Is this an apple？ Is this city you are heading to?

×××Are you satisfied?（你满意了吗？）

×××没，没有。(No, I am not)

＃＃＃“没有” is always used to describe a degree of something.

More questions like: Do you have an apple? Is there a costal city in your country?

{I am Chinese, hope this is helpful}

[sebhk]

不是 = is not

没有 = have not, does not exist

我 不是 美国人 = I am not American

我 没有 钱 = I don't have (any) money

[889]

The problem -- a problem in the sense that it can confuse you -- is that Chinese often uses 有 "have" where English uses "is."

For example, "There's no one here" is "这儿没有人" Zher meiyou ren. "不是人" bu shi ren means something completely different.

[Guoke]

To make it even more confusing for you...

我不是没有钱 = I have money.

我不是没有告诉过你 = I have told you before.

[889]

But it's less confusing if you translate those examples as "[it's] Not that I don't have any money" and "[it's] Not that I haven't told you."

[Mouseneb]

我不是没有告诉过你 = awesome sentence.

[bunny87]

不是 = is not

没有 = have not, does not exist

I think that captured the difference. IF you want something more detailed...

不是 = refers to (not) a state of being. for example: not be the case; you are not an apple, you are not God. Either it is or it isn't, you should be able to consider. In this case, it isn't.

没有 = refers to the existence of an item, or directly negates a verb.

are there any apples on the table? no, there are not. <-- (lack of) existence

is there any love for BP anymore? no, no there is not. <-- (lack of) existence

When directly negating a verb, consider English:

"Did you wash the dishes?"

"No, I did not wash the dishes"

"Did you tell the Chinese man hello?"

"No, I meiyou told the Chinese man hello."

"did you do your homework?

1. "No, i meiyou did my homework" <-- negation

2. "I have no homework / I meiyou homework" <-- (lack of) existence

*the italicized meiyou can be substituted for whatever "have not" "no"

[Shi Tong]

I dont know if this helps, but I've always used the simple translation method to describe these two states or words to myself:

是 means "is" or "are"- Are you Chinese is "你是中国人吗" literally translated as "you are chinese person ma?" 不是 negates this and means "am not" or "isn't"

有 means to have- Have you any money is "你有钱吗", or in fact, maybe a better one is "你有现金吗" literally translated as either "do you have money?" or "do you have cash?" (the reason I say the cash sentence is better is because sometimes "do you have money" means "are you rich"). 没有 negates this and it means "I do not", or "I have not".

So sentences like:

我不是没有告诉过你 use a lot of double negatives which make them confusing to a new eye.

If you use the positive version of this sentence: 我是有告诉过你, or in fact you do away with the word which I think is unnecessary/ (actually possibly grammatically incorrect) you come up with this: 我有告诉过你 "I have told before you (you before)".

我不是没有告诉过你 This sentence is in reply to someone who has accused person a of not telling person b before, and the reply comes "I have told you before", but using negatives.