Time for Tom

I Am Not… 我不是…

chinese-from-a-foreigner:

我不是
Wo bu shi

不 bu
Pronounced like “boo”
不 negates verbs

*不 is the easiest way to show that you do not do something.

我不是学生。
Wo bu shi xuesheng.
I am not a student.

他不是老师。
Ta bu shi laoshi.
He is not a teacher.

她不是李友。她是小艾。
Ta bu shi Liyou. Ta shi Xiaoai.
She is not Liyou. She is Xiaoai.

你不是我的朋友。
Ni bu shi wo de pengyou.
You are not my friend.

不 always goes before the verb it is negating. It follows a format as such.

Subject + 不 + Verb + Object

Do note that 不 is not a “once only” thing. It is not “I did not.” It is “I do not.” That means if you say “I don’t eat something” and you use 不, you absolutely, positively do not and will not eat that something.

*不 is a special case in that it cannot be used for the verb 有 to have. 有 has its own negation verb that is very similar to 不. We’ll cover that later.