<p>Like in most languages, expression of the concept of not having anything in Chinese is <strong>most naturally done</strong> as a negative, viz </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>您没有未读消息。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>My English voicemail employs <em>"You don't have any unread messages"</em> in the same way.</p>

<p>However, the use of 零 líng + a classifier like 個 gè is attested, albeit in very limited contexts, most commonly in temperature (to "count" 0 degrees of the scale, e.g. 零度). </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-10T16:46:49.887Z
2019-09-10T16:46:49.887Z
Michaelyus
<p>I think in the context that you have described, which is a pre-formatted text that is used in computer programs, both would be seen to be equally acceptable because the context is clear and there is no real ambiguity as to why it is expressed in one or the other manner.</p>

<p>However, if we are talking about a natural conversational setting then it obviously makes more sense to express zero with a negative form. I thought it was just worth pointing out that the context is quite important if you are considering whether the expression is naturally or not when translated or in native form of another language.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-11T04:47:00.813Z
Are you saying that is it expected for Chinese software to sound less fluent? In North America, at least, good user experience (UX) typically involves easy to understand the content which will take into account factors like fluency. It's very easy nowadays to have fluent content in various language but maybe expectations are different for Chinese?
Nicolas Bouvrette
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-11T22:17:41.817Z
Well, from my experience if you were translating from English to Chinese then this seems to be the way things are done. But if you were translating from Chinese to English then maybe the structure of the sentence would be formatted in a different way to allow easier translation of Chinese into English. When you are dealing with large volumes of text, the quality control in terms of fluency tends to be less of a priority compared to getting through the content.
Michael Lai
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-11T03:08:28.283Z
2019-09-11T03:08:28.283Z
Michael Lai
<p>In English you could use two forms when expressing a sentence that has a plural form with a value of "0". For example:</p>

<p><code>You have 2 unread messages.</code></p>

<p>Could be either:</p>

<p><code>You have 0 unread messages.</code></p>

<p>Or the negative form:</p>

<p><code>You have no unread messages.</code></p>

<p>It would be the same thing in Chinese:</p>

<p><code>您有0条未读消息。</code></p>

<p>Or the negative form:</p>

<p><code>您没有未读消息。</code></p>

<p>Is using negative forms a common way to increase fluency in Chinese or are both forms equally fluent? In other words, if we could pick both form, would one be better than the other?</p>

<p>Also, is this a general recommendation or are there exceptions around this?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-10T14:51:32.443Z
[Related, from Linguistics StackExchange](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/30308/what-factors-determine-the-numeral-coming-to-numbers-such-as-1-0-0-5-100-in)
Michaelyus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-10T23:07:50.130Z
Either way works. Both 您有0条未读消息。and 您没有未读消息。 are correct.
dan
<grammar><sentence-structure><sentence>
Is it more natural to express "0" with a negative form?
# Is it more natural to express "0" with a negative form?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-09-10)

In English you could use two forms when expressing a sentence that has a plural form with a value of "0". For example:

`You have 2 unread messages.`

Could be either:

`You have 0 unread messages.`

Or the negative form:

`You have no unread messages.`

It would be the same thing in Chinese:

`您有0条未读消息。`

Or the negative form:

`您没有未读消息。`

Is using negative forms a common way to increase fluency in Chinese or are both forms equally fluent? In other words, if we could pick both form, would one be better than the other?

Also, is this a general recommendation or are there exceptions around this?

**Tags:** grammar, sentence-structure, sentence

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: [Related, from Linguistics StackExchange](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/30308/what-factors-determine-the-numeral-coming-to-numbers-such-as-1-0-0-5-100-in)  
> **username_2**: Either way works. Both 您有0条未读消息。and 您没有未读消息。 are correct.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-09-10. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Like in most languages, expression of the concept of not having anything in Chinese is **most naturally done** as a negative, viz

> 您没有未读消息。

My English voicemail employs *"You don't have any unread messages"* in the same way.

However, the use of 零 líng + a classifier like 個 gè is attested, albeit in very limited contexts, most commonly in temperature (to "count" 0 degrees of the scale, e.g. 零度).


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2019-09-11. Score: 1

I think in the context that you have described, which is a pre-formatted text that is used in computer programs, both would be seen to be equally acceptable because the context is clear and there is no real ambiguity as to why it is expressed in one or the other manner.

However, if we are talking about a natural conversational setting then it obviously makes more sense to express zero with a negative form. I thought it was just worth pointing out that the context is quite important if you are considering whether the expression is naturally or not when translated or in native form of another language.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Are you saying that is it expected for Chinese software to sound less fluent? In North America, at least, good user experience (UX) typically involves easy to understand the content which will take into account factors like fluency. It's very easy nowadays to have fluent content in various language but maybe expectations are different for Chinese?  
> **username_3**: Well, from my experience if you were translating from English to Chinese then this seems to be the way things are done. But if you were translating from Chinese to English then maybe the structure of the sentence would be formatted in a different way to allow easier translation of Chinese into English. When you are dealing with large volumes of text, the quality control in terms of fluency tends to be less of a priority compared to getting through the content.  

---

