Translating Help

[Coys1991]

What's the difference between 常不 and 不常?

The sentence I am translating is: My younger sister often does not eat breakfast. 我妹妹常不吃早饭。or is it this one: 我妹妹不常吃早饭。thanks in advance.

[ZhangJiang]

I feel they basically mean the same. Though 经常不 sounds a little bit more natural than 常不 in conversation, yet both are good.

An attempt to translate:

我妹妹常不吃早饭：Often my younger sister does not eat breakfast.

我妹妹不常吃早饭：My younger sister does not often eat breakfast.

[skylee]

Perhaps you could look at the sentences this way - 吃早飯 = eat breakfast; 不吃早飯 = not eat breakfast = skip breakfast. So is there a difference between "she often skips breakfast" and "she often does not eat breakfast"?

Hope this is useful.

[Coys1991]

Thank you both for the help that clears up some of the questions I had!

[DavidL706]

I would translate them thusly:

 

• 我妹妹常不吃早饭。 My younger sister rarely eats breakfast. (Alternatively, My little sister always doesn't eat breakfast - where "always" modifies the negative aspect, but this translation is awkward)
• 我妹妹不常吃早饭。 My younger sister often does not eat breakfast. (Here the we can think of 不 as modifying the adverb 常).  

 

I would say that in translating them into English they are quite similar and depends on context.

[Coys1991]

Thank you you have all answered my questions! Thanks for the help!