<p>The way we express in Chinese is different. </p>

<p>"Not many people like to wear green belts" is a natural way in English. In Chinese, we say 喜欢扎绿色腰带的人不(是很)多。</p>

<p>"I don't meet a lot of people who sign here." We say this in Chinese: 我遇到过的人中会手语的不(是很)多。</p>

<p>Note that the structure is not necessarily agreed between the two languages while interpreting each other IMO. This is a good example to demonstrate this point.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-04T02:18:14.127Z
2018-02-04T02:27:32.287Z
2018-02-04T02:27:32.287Z
dan
<p>Both 不是很多人 and 没有很多人 are perfectly acceptable. However, if you want a more "fluid" version, you can use 没(有)多少人 or 几乎没(有)人. The latter is more like "almost no-one" while the former is "not many".</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>没有多少人喜欢佩戴绿腰带 / 几乎没人喜欢佩戴绿腰带</p>
  
  <p>似乎这里没有多少人会手语 / 似乎这里几乎没人会手语</p>
</blockquote>

<p>You could also rephrase the sentences and use 很少 or 不多 (this one is better) on the end, like:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>似乎这里会手语的(人)不多 (the 人 is optional)</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-25T09:25:52.307Z
2018-04-25T09:25:52.307Z
Angus Macrae
<p>In my teaching, I distinguish between grammatical usage and cultural/social usage.</p>

<p>For example, "I don't have enough money today":  我今天没有足够的钱 is grammatically correct (SVO construction), but people tend to say (cultural/social usage): 我今天的钱不够 (Topic Comment construction: topic 钱, comment 不够).</p>

<p>My explanation for the above is: the focus (not emphasis, as there are emphasis markers) is not on 我 (the sentence is not about "me") but on 钱 (the sentence is about "money").</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-14T11:39:53.820Z
2019-06-14T11:39:53.820Z
Lillian Chia
<p>One simple way I heard being spoken in Taiwan is 人不多.
I'm not sure how correct this is, but I've heard phrases like 這裡(的)人不多
今天學生不多</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-27T08:18:04.387Z
2018-04-27T08:18:04.387Z
Curiosity
<p>In fact IMO 不是很多人 and 没有很多人 both sound pretty natural to me, and I think they are the right translation of "not many people". </p>

<p>"绿腰带不是很多人喜欢佩戴的" sounds a bit odd but mainly that's because you would usually say "不是很多人喜欢佩戴绿腰带" or “喜欢佩戴绿腰带的人不多".</p>

<p>"似乎这里没有很多人会手语" sounds perfectly natural to me.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-04T06:15:15.927Z
`不是很多人` 貌似是英翻汉的说法，我感觉`没多少人这么说`。类似的还有“请`停止`(Stop)伤害动物”，按接地气的说法，应该是“请`别再`伤害动物”…
LiuYan 刘研
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T19:21:07.730Z
有时候会有这样的吧：“很多人喜欢吃香菜的吗？”“不是很多人吧”
Ben Yang
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-04T02:20:20.443Z
2018-02-04T02:20:20.443Z
Ben Yang
<p>Sometimes I say 不是很多人 to mean "not many people"; it's basically a direct translation from English.  But it feels clunky to me, and I don't recall a native-Chinese speaker saying this.  I found an example of it used on <a href="http://ce.linedict.com/#/cnen/example/8823202fea3c4bf99088f6d2fda8a6c3/detail" rel="noreferrer">Line Dict</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>绿腰带<strong>不是很多人</strong>喜欢佩戴的。<br>
  <strong>Not many people</strong> like to wear green belts<br>
  <sub>lǜ yāodài <strong>bùshì hĕnduō rén</strong> xĭhuān pèidài de</sub></p>
</blockquote>

<p>I've heard native-Chinese speakers say 不多, but I wouldn't know how to adapt that.</p>

<p>I also found an example with 没有很多人 at <a href="http://ce.linedict.com/#/cnen/example/d518167e6f7f48b5bc0584733057023c/detail" rel="noreferrer">Line Dict</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>似乎这里<strong>没有很多人</strong>会手语<br>
  I don't meet a lot of people who sign here.<br>
  <sub> sìhū zhèlĭ <strong>méiyŏu hĕnduō rén</strong> huì shŏuyŭ</sub></p>
</blockquote>

<p>(Google Translate also suggests this.)</p>

<p>But this is just as clunky.  There's <a href="http://ce.linedict.com/#/cnen/example?query=%E5%BE%88%E5%B0%91%E4%BA%BA" rel="noreferrer">很少人</a> (hěnshǎo rén) = "very few people", but it doesn't feel like it means "not many people".</p>

<p><strong>Question</strong>: How can I say "not many people" smoothly?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-04T03:12:10.810Z
to adapt 不多 users suggest feeding it to bkrs, find many suitable examples,esp.(1st 2 with 人）: 这种人毕竟不多,回来的人不多,他家人口不多,本书文字不多,我有几个，可是不多
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-04T06:34:54.427Z
To me, when using `不是很多` or `没有很多` to express the quantity, it do means `few`, `没多少` or `没几个` or `很少`. If the quantity is not that few, I may say `没太多`(not (too many)) or `也不是太多`.
LiuYan 刘研
<word-choice><usage>
Saying 不是很多人 or 没有很多人 sounds clunky; how can I say "not many people" smoothly?
# Saying 不是很多人 or 没有很多人 sounds clunky; how can I say "not many people" smoothly?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-02-04)

Sometimes I say 不是很多人 to mean "not many people"; it's basically a direct translation from English. But it feels clunky to me, and I don't recall a native-Chinese speaker saying this. I found an example of it used on [Line Dict](http://ce.linedict.com/#/cnen/example/8823202fea3c4bf99088f6d2fda8a6c3/detail):

> 绿腰带**不是很多人**喜欢佩戴的。  
> **Not many people** like to wear green belts  
> lǜ yāodài **bùshì hĕnduō rén** xĭhuān pèidài de

I've heard native-Chinese speakers say 不多, but I wouldn't know how to adapt that.

I also found an example with 没有很多人 at [Line Dict](http://ce.linedict.com/#/cnen/example/d518167e6f7f48b5bc0584733057023c/detail):

> 似乎这里**没有很多人**会手语  
> I don't meet a lot of people who sign here.  
>  sìhū zhèlĭ **méiyŏu hĕnduō rén** huì shŏuyŭ

(Google Translate also suggests this.)

But this is just as clunky. There's [很少人](http://ce.linedict.com/#/cnen/example?query=%E5%BE%88%E5%B0%91%E4%BA%BA) (hěnshǎo rén) = "very few people", but it doesn't feel like it means "not many people".

**Question**: How can I say "not many people" smoothly?

**Tags:** word-choice, usage

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: to adapt 不多 users suggest feeding it to bkrs, find many suitable examples,esp.(1st 2 with 人）: 这种人毕竟不多,回来的人不多,他家人口不多,本书文字不多,我有几个，可是不多  
> **username_2**: To me, when using `不是很多` or `没有很多` to express the quantity, it do means `few`, `没多少` or `没几个` or `很少`. If the quantity is not that few, I may say `没太多`(not (too many)) or `也不是太多`.  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_7 on 2018-02-04. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

In fact IMO 不是很多人 and 没有很多人 both sound pretty natural to me, and I think they are the right translation of "not many people".

"绿腰带不是很多人喜欢佩戴的" sounds a bit odd but mainly that's because you would usually say "不是很多人喜欢佩戴绿腰带" or “喜欢佩戴绿腰带的人不多".

"似乎这里没有很多人会手语" sounds perfectly natural to me.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: `不是很多人` 貌似是英翻汉的说法，我感觉`没多少人这么说`。类似的还有“请`停止`(Stop)伤害动物”，按接地气的说法，应该是“请`别再`伤害动物”…  
> **username_7**: 有时候会有这样的吧：“很多人喜欢吃香菜的吗？”“不是很多人吧”  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-02-04. Score: 6

The way we express in Chinese is different.

"Not many people like to wear green belts" is a natural way in English. In Chinese, we say 喜欢扎绿色腰带的人不(是很)多。

"I don't meet a lot of people who sign here." We say this in Chinese: 我遇到过的人中会手语的不(是很)多。

Note that the structure is not necessarily agreed between the two languages while interpreting each other IMO. This is a good example to demonstrate this point.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-04-25. Score: 3

Both 不是很多人 and 没有很多人 are perfectly acceptable. However, if you want a more "fluid" version, you can use 没(有)多少人 or 几乎没(有)人. The latter is more like "almost no-one" while the former is "not many".

For example:

> 没有多少人喜欢佩戴绿腰带 / 几乎没人喜欢佩戴绿腰带
>
> 似乎这里没有多少人会手语 / 似乎这里几乎没人会手语

You could also rephrase the sentences and use 很少 or 不多 (this one is better) on the end, like:

> 似乎这里会手语的(人)不多 (the 人 is optional)


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2019-06-14. Score: 2

In my teaching, I distinguish between grammatical usage and cultural/social usage.

For example, "I don't have enough money today": 我今天没有足够的钱 is grammatically correct (SVO construction), but people tend to say (cultural/social usage): 我今天的钱不够 (Topic Comment construction: topic 钱, comment 不够).

My explanation for the above is: the focus (not emphasis, as there are emphasis markers) is not on 我 (the sentence is not about "me") but on 钱 (the sentence is about "money").


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2018-04-27. Score: 1

One simple way I heard being spoken in Taiwan is 人不多.
I'm not sure how correct this is, but I've heard phrases like 這裡(的)人不多
今天學生不多


---

