<p>This is a knottier question than it first appears. The answer is hard to summarise, but it seems to be related to the special status of 有 and 無 from the beginning of Chinese.</p>

<p>In the Old Chinese of the oracle bones, there seems to be <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8D#Chinese" rel="noreferrer">fairly neat system of four</a>. 不, 弗, 毋, 勿, where each of these is a combination of p-type vs m-type, reflecting non-modal (uncontrollable) vs modal (controllable / volitional) respectively; and vowel-final vs *<em>ɯd</em> final, which reflects stative/eventive/passive vs not. There was also 非 as a straightforward merger of a p-type with the verb 惟／唯／維.</p>

<p>Discussions of oracle bone Chinese often keep 亡 and 無 to one side, as they are <em>verbs</em> with negative polarity, and <a href="https://www.academia.edu/34975916/A_Lexical_Category_in_Oracle-Bone_Inscriptions_V_CONTROLLABLE_or_V_UNCONTROLLABLE" rel="noreferrer">they <em>replace</em> 有 in negative sentences, rather than negating it</a>. [Look in the 詩經: 亡 and 無 rarely paired with 有, and <a href="https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry?searchu=%E7%84%A1%E6%9C%89" rel="noreferrer">the two times 無 is with 有</a>, it has a "futurity" about it, similar to modern Mandarin 不要 or 不會] We thus see that even from the time of Old Chinese, 有 was already a bit "special", different from other verbs. Compare Tibetan མེད <em>med</em>, the negative form (and not particle / prefix) of ཡོད <em>yod</em>, to be / exist (used in the construction for <em>have</em>).</p>

<p>According to <a href="http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ics/clrc/yue/31_hilary_chappell.pdf" rel="noreferrer">Chappell &amp; Peyraube (2016)</a>, 沒 was used before the Yuan, and only appeared with 沒有 from the Yuan onwards (specifically by 1350). It had been "semantically extended" from its root meaning of "sink" via "disappear", replacing 無 and then "extending to an aspectual negator or a marker expressing a perfective negation".</p>

<p>We see that in southern varieties of Chinese, negative <em>equivalents</em> of 有 (rather than negative adverbs) still exist: e.g. Min 無 (Southern Min POJ: <em>bô</em>, Fuzhounese BUC: <em>mò̤</em>); Cantonese 冇 <em>mou5</em> (with a different tone to the now literary 無 <em>mou4</em>), Northern Wu 嘸沒 (Shanghainese <em>hhmm meq</em>). Interestingly, Xiang varieties generally use 冒得 instead of a cognate of 無 on its own for the negative of 有: an example of suppletion; 無 is still used as a perfective with verbs though. </p>

<p>So there is just something about 有 and 無 that became amplified with its use in the "perfective" through Middle Chinese.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-03T17:35:57.660Z
2019-12-03T17:35:57.660Z
Michaelyus
<blockquote>
<p>有(have) is opposite of 没有 (don't have/ have not). <em>没 short for 没有</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>沒有工作 = 沒工作 = don't have job/ work</p>
<p>沒有去工作 = 沒去工作 = have not gone to work/ do not go to wprk</p>
<blockquote>
<p>是(positive/ is) is opposite of 否(negative) or 不是 (is not)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Example:</p>
<p><strong>是否合適？</strong>= is it suitable? or is it not suitable = <strong>is it suitable?</strong></p>
<p><strong>是不是人?</strong> = is it a human? or is it not a human? = <strong>is it human?</strong></p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p><strong>不</strong>合適 = <strong>not</strong> suitable</p>
<p><strong>不</strong>是人 = is <strong>not</strong> human</p>
<p><strong>Edit:</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Difference between 不 and 沒</p>
</blockquote>
<p>不 = not; negative</p>
<p>沒 = have not; don't have</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>不</strong>工作 (<strong>not</strong> working)</p>
<p><em>不 here implies &quot;refusal&quot; of a verb</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>~</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>沒</strong>工作 (<strong>don't have</strong> job)</p>
<p><strong>沒</strong>工作 (<strong>have not</strong> work)</p>
<p><em>沒 here implies &quot;absent&quot; of a noun or &quot;negative&quot; of a verb in past participle form</em></p>
<p>Since 有(have) implies &quot;present&quot; therefore we use 沒(don't have) for its opposite form &quot;absent&quot; (沒有)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>~</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We say 不是 instead of 沒是 because 不 here implies &quot;negative&quot;, thus negative of 是(being) became 不是 (not being).</p>
<p>If we say 沒是, it would imply 1. &quot;don't have being&quot; (&quot;being&quot; in not a noun here) or  2. &quot;have not being&quot; (it would be in past participle form), neither is correct for expressing &quot;not being&quot;</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-03T14:43:54.547Z
Thanks Tang Ho , but I already understand how to use 不 and 没. My question is why is 有 not negated by 不 ? Why do we not say 不有 ?
Kantura
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2019-12-03T14:51:07.830Z
So, you would want to know why 是 is opposite of 不是 but not 没是 too?
Tang Ho
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2019-12-03T15:07:18.473Z
Yeah , I guess that is an extension of my question. Do you have an answer ?
Kantura
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2019-12-03T15:44:33.363Z
@Kantura - See my edition, I try my best to explain, hope it helps
Tang Ho
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2019-12-03T15:55:22.413Z
In the phrase 没工作 , the 没 is acting on 有 as in 没有工作. My question is ''Why not say 不有工作 ?''
Kantura
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-03T16:13:30.820Z
@Kantura It is either "没工作/ 没有工作" or "不工作". "工作" in  "没工作/ 没有工作"  can be either a noun (without job) or verb (have not work). It is already ambiguous; "工作" in "不工作" can only be a verb. saying "不有工作" would be even more confusing. 不 can only  be used with verb, but 有 implies 工作 is a noun
Tang Ho
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2019-12-03T16:16:12.337Z
I don't think you understand my question. Forget about 工作. Why is the negative of 有 not 不有 ?
Kantura
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2019-12-03T16:18:49.647Z
I wrote it in my edition:
Tang Ho
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2019-12-03T16:21:07.473Z
No , you just told me what I already know. 没有 is the negative form of 有. You never mentioned why.
Kantura
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2019-12-03T16:24:02.617Z
I wrote: "不"  implies "refusal" of a verb; "沒"  implies "absent" of a noun. Since 有(have) implies "present" therefore we use 沒(don't have) for its opposite form "absent" (沒有)
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-03T16:28:23.600Z
But 有 is a verb. You wrote ''不 implies refusal of a verb''. My question is ''Why does 不 imply refusal of every verb except the verb 有 ?'' My question has nothing got to do with nouns.
Kantura
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2019-12-03T17:06:28.290Z
When 沒有 is translated as "have not", the "have" is not a verb but a part of the past participle form. As for "不 imply refusal of every verb except the verb 有", 有 is not an action therefore you cannot refuse to carry it out, for example: you cannot 不有癌症 (not have cancer- refuse to have cancer), you can only be "沒有癌症" (not have cancer - absent of cancer)
Tang Ho
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2019-12-03T17:06:43.707Z
Thanks for your help. I found this paper with a good explanation. https://wenku.baidu.com/view/2987364d852458fb770b5653.html
Kantura
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2019-12-04T00:12:30.337Z
@Kantura Better you address what you have known in your question. Others won't waste their time to dig into them.
dan
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2019-12-04T12:59:08.667Z
I don't think 没有 is the opposite of 有. Take a look at these examples: 去/不去/没去, 看/不看/没看, 说/不说/没说, you may find that 不+verb is different from 没+verb. But there is not 不有, only 没有 are used today.
xenophōn
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2019-12-04T13:02:29.673Z
@賈可 [没有 + noun] is the opposite of [有 + noun] ; [没有 + verb] is the same as [have not + verb]
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-03T14:27:40.417Z
2019-12-03T15:50:14.047Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Tang Ho
<p>Our moderator @songyuanyao has already provided a good link, here I make some additions:</p>

<p>没 is the opposite of 有, which implys the objective absence, while 不 is mere negation.</p>

<p>Is 不有 valid?</p>

<p>Yes! But it appears in classical Chinese, and idioms originating from it.</p>

<ul>
<li>有 means 占有（seize）, so it can be simply negated by 不:</li>
</ul>

<p>生而不(有)，为而不恃，功成而弗居。——《老子》</p>

<p>“创生而不去占有，施为而不会恃恩，成功而不以居傲。”</p>

<p>今，君胜郑而不(有)，无乃失民臣之力乎？——《春秋公羊传》</p>

<p>“现在您战胜了郑国却不去占据，恐怕会失去他们臣民的人力吧？”</p>

<ul>
<li>有 means 存在（exist） as the opposite of 无:</li>
</ul>

<p>靡不(有初)，鲜克(有终)。——《诗经》</p>

<p>“没有不能善始的，（却）鲜有能够善终的。”</p>

<ul>
<li>有 means 具有，拥有（have, possess）as the most frequent meaning today:</li>
</ul>

<p>尔不克敬，尔不啻不(有尔土)，予亦致天之罚于尔躬。——《尚书》</p>

<p>“你们若不能敬畏，你们不但不能保有你们的土地，我也会使你们遭受天罚。”</p>

<p>不(有忠言奇谋)而取大位，何其往来屑屑，不惮烦也？——《后汉书》</p>

<p>“（你）并不曾有过什么忠诚的进言，出奇的谋略却要处大位，怎么会那样奔忙劳瘁也不嫌烦呀？”</p>

<p>But! A very important thing is that 不有 is not closely combined to mean 没有 today. 不 is just a negative word negating the whole in the ().</p>

<p>You might ask: 我不（有工作）seems valid, too! But when lacking classical context, it appears very harsh to hear.</p>

<p>So if you write something like “明，年已弱冠，学已通博，反闲娱于家宅而不有业。”（小明年纪也成年了，书也读出来了，却闲在家里玩没有工作。）I think it's Okay QwQ.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-03T17:33:46.883Z
Thanks, when I refused 不有 as a valid term, I was only thinking of the modern Chinese, didn't consider in classical context, wording was very different , for example, nouns were often used as verbs, which modern Chinese rarely does. Nowadays no one would replace 佔有 or 擁有 with 有
Tang Ho
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2019-12-03T17:39:23.130Z
For example, 业 in 反闲娱于家宅而不业 would be a verb for "have job"
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-03T17:43:35.920Z
@TangHo I know 业 can directly mean have a job, but I just wanted to use 不有 hahhah. In fact 赋闲 is the best choice.
Toosky Hierot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-03T17:06:08.983Z
2019-12-03T17:18:56.427Z
2019-12-03T17:18:56.427Z
Toosky Hierot
<p>没 denotes the sense of <strong>non-existence</strong>, while 不 is a <strong>general negation</strong>. The other way to think of it is that 没 is the short version of 没有. In other words, you can replace 没 with 没有 when 没 precedes a verb. For example, 他没来=他没有来; 门没关=门没有关;etc.</p>

<p>不 is used with other words(except for 有) such as 是 to form the negation. E.g. 这不是我做的; 我不管; 我不说;etc. </p>

<p>Furthermore, compare 我没有说 and 我不说. 我没有说 means <em>the fact that I have said it is <strong>non-existent</em></strong>, that is to say, <em>I haven't said it</em>. 我不说 means <em>I won't say it</em>. </p>

<p>Hope this clear.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-03T23:00:45.397Z
2019-12-03T23:53:50.937Z
2019-12-03T23:53:50.937Z
dan
<p>Why is the verb 有 negated by 没 instead of 不 ?</p>

<p>Is there some historical reason or was it just a strange accident ?</p>

<etymology><negation>
What is the origin of 没 as an alternative to 不?
# What is the origin of 没 as an alternative to 不?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-12-03)

Why is the verb 有 negated by 没 instead of 不 ?

Is there some historical reason or was it just a strange accident ?

**Tags:** etymology, negation


---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-12-03. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

> 有(have) is opposite of 没有 (don't have/ have not). *没 short for 没有*

Example:

沒有工作 = 沒工作 = don't have job/ work

沒有去工作 = 沒去工作 = have not gone to work/ do not go to wprk

> 是(positive/ is) is opposite of 否(negative) or 不是 (is not)

Example:

**是否合適？**= is it suitable? or is it not suitable = **is it suitable?**

**是不是人?** = is it a human? or is it not a human? = **is it human?**

Example:

**不**合適 = **not** suitable

**不**是人 = is **not** human

**Edit:**

> Difference between 不 and 沒

不 = not; negative

沒 = have not; don't have

Example:

> **不**工作 (**not** working)
>
> *不 here implies "refusal" of a verb*

~

> **沒**工作 (**don't have** job)
>
> **沒**工作 (**have not** work)
>
> *沒 here implies "absent" of a noun or "negative" of a verb in past participle form*
>
> Since 有(have) implies "present" therefore we use 沒(don't have) for its opposite form "absent" (沒有)

~

> We say 不是 instead of 沒是 because 不 here implies "negative", thus negative of 是(being) became 不是 (not being).
>
> If we say 沒是, it would imply 1. "don't have being" ("being" in not a noun here) or 2. "have not being" (it would be in past participle form), neither is correct for expressing "not being"

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks username_2 Ho , but I already understand how to use 不 and 没. My question is why is 有 not negated by 不 ? Why do we not say 不有 ?  
> **username_2**: So, you would want to know why 是 is opposite of 不是 but not 没是 too?  
> **username_0**: Yeah , I guess that is an extension of my question. Do you have an answer ?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 - See my edition, I try my best to explain, hope it helps  
> **username_0**: In the phrase 没工作 , the 没 is acting on 有 as in 没有工作. My question is ''Why not say 不有工作 ?''  
> **username_2**: @username_0 It is either "没工作/ 没有工作" or "不工作". "工作" in  "没工作/ 没有工作"  can be either a noun (without job) or verb (have not work). It is already ambiguous; "工作" in "不工作" can only be a verb. saying "不有工作" would be even more confusing. 不 can only  be used with verb, but 有 implies 工作 is a noun  
> **username_0**: I don't think you understand my question. Forget about 工作. Why is the negative of 有 not 不有 ?  
> **username_2**: I wrote it in my edition:  
> **username_0**: No , you just told me what I already know. 没有 is the negative form of 有. You never mentioned why.  
> **username_2**: I wrote: "不"  implies "refusal" of a verb; "沒"  implies "absent" of a noun. Since 有(have) implies "present" therefore we use 沒(don't have) for its opposite form "absent" (沒有)  
> **username_0**: But 有 is a verb. You wrote ''不 implies refusal of a verb''. My question is ''Why does 不 imply refusal of every verb except the verb 有 ?'' My question has nothing got to do with nouns.  
> **username_2**: When 沒有 is translated as "have not", the "have" is not a verb but a part of the past participle form. As for "不 imply refusal of every verb except the verb 有", 有 is not an action therefore you cannot refuse to carry it out, for example: you cannot 不有癌症 (not have cancer- refuse to have cancer), you can only be "沒有癌症" (not have cancer - absent of cancer)  
> **username_0**: Thanks for your help. I found this paper with a good explanation. https://wenku.baidu.com/view/2987364d852458fb770b5653.html  
> **username_3**: @username_0 Better you address what you have known in your question. Others won't waste their time to dig into them.  
> **username_4**: I don't think 没有 is the opposite of 有. Take a look at these examples: 去/不去/没去, 看/不看/没看, 说/不说/没说, you may find that 不+verb is different from 没+verb. But there is not 不有, only 没有 are used today.  
> **username_2**: @賈可 [没有 + noun] is the opposite of [有 + noun] ; [没有 + verb] is the same as [have not + verb]  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-12-03. Score: 7

This is a knottier question than it first appears. The answer is hard to summarise, but it seems to be related to the special status of 有 and 無 from the beginning of Chinese.

In the Old Chinese of the oracle bones, there seems to be [fairly neat system of four](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8D#Chinese). 不, 弗, 毋, 勿, where each of these is a combination of p-type vs m-type, reflecting non-modal (uncontrollable) vs modal (controllable / volitional) respectively; and vowel-final vs \**ɯd* final, which reflects stative/eventive/passive vs not. There was also 非 as a straightforward merger of a p-type with the verb 惟／唯／維.

Discussions of oracle bone Chinese often keep 亡 and 無 to one side, as they are *verbs* with negative polarity, and [they *replace* 有 in negative sentences, rather than negating it](https://www.academia.edu/34975916/A_Lexical_Category_in_Oracle-Bone_Inscriptions_V_CONTROLLABLE_or_V_UNCONTROLLABLE). [Look in the 詩經: 亡 and 無 rarely paired with 有, and [the two times 無 is with 有](https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry?searchu=%E7%84%A1%E6%9C%89), it has a "futurity" about it, similar to modern Mandarin 不要 or 不會] We thus see that even from the time of Old Chinese, 有 was already a bit "special", different from other verbs. Compare Tibetan མེད *med*, the negative form (and not particle / prefix) of ཡོད *yod*, to be / exist (used in the construction for *have*).

According to [Chappell & Peyraube (2016)](http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ics/clrc/yue/31_hilary_chappell.pdf), 沒 was used before the Yuan, and only appeared with 沒有 from the Yuan onwards (specifically by 1350). It had been "semantically extended" from its root meaning of "sink" via "disappear", replacing 無 and then "extending to an aspectual negator or a marker expressing a perfective negation".

We see that in southern varieties of Chinese, negative *equivalents* of 有 (rather than negative adverbs) still exist: e.g. Min 無 (Southern Min POJ: *bô*, Fuzhounese BUC: *mò̤*); Cantonese 冇 *mou5* (with a different tone to the now literary 無 *mou4*), Northern Wu 嘸沒 (Shanghainese *hhmm meq*). Interestingly, Xiang varieties generally use 冒得 instead of a cognate of 無 on its own for the negative of 有: an example of suppletion; 無 is still used as a perfective with verbs though.

So there is just something about 有 and 無 that became amplified with its use in the "perfective" through Middle Chinese.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2019-12-03. Score: 2

Our moderator @songyuanyao has already provided a good link, here I make some additions:

没 is the opposite of 有, which implys the objective absence, while 不 is mere negation.

Is 不有 valid?

Yes! But it appears in classical Chinese, and idioms originating from it.

* 有 means 占有（seize）, so it can be simply negated by 不:

生而不(有)，为而不恃，功成而弗居。——《老子》

“创生而不去占有，施为而不会恃恩，成功而不以居傲。”

今，君胜郑而不(有)，无乃失民臣之力乎？——《春秋公羊传》

“现在您战胜了郑国却不去占据，恐怕会失去他们臣民的人力吧？”

* 有 means 存在（exist） as the opposite of 无:

靡不(有初)，鲜克(有终)。——《诗经》

“没有不能善始的，（却）鲜有能够善终的。”

* 有 means 具有，拥有（have, possess）as the most frequent meaning today:

尔不克敬，尔不啻不(有尔土)，予亦致天之罚于尔躬。——《尚书》

“你们若不能敬畏，你们不但不能保有你们的土地，我也会使你们遭受天罚。”

不(有忠言奇谋)而取大位，何其往来屑屑，不惮烦也？——《后汉书》

“（你）并不曾有过什么忠诚的进言，出奇的谋略却要处大位，怎么会那样奔忙劳瘁也不嫌烦呀？”

But! A very important thing is that 不有 is not closely combined to mean 没有 today. 不 is just a negative word negating the whole in the ().

You might ask: 我不（有工作）seems valid, too! But when lacking classical context, it appears very harsh to hear.

So if you write something like “明，年已弱冠，学已通博，反闲娱于家宅而不有业。”（小明年纪也成年了，书也读出来了，却闲在家里玩没有工作。）I think it's Okay QwQ.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Thanks, when I refused 不有 as a valid term, I was only thinking of the modern Chinese, didn't consider in classical context, wording was very different , for example, nouns were often used as verbs, which modern Chinese rarely does. Nowadays no one would replace 佔有 or 擁有 with 有  
> **username_2**: For example, 业 in 反闲娱于家宅而不业 would be a verb for "have job"  
> **username_5**: @username_2 I know 业 can directly mean have a job, but I just wanted to use 不有 hahhah. In fact 赋闲 is the best choice.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2019-12-03. Score: 1

没 denotes the sense of **non-existence**, while 不 is a **general negation**. The other way to think of it is that 没 is the short version of 没有. In other words, you can replace 没 with 没有 when 没 precedes a verb. For example, 他没来=他没有来; 门没关=门没有关;etc.

不 is used with other words(except for 有) such as 是 to form the negation. E.g. 这不是我做的; 我不管; 我不说;etc.

Furthermore, compare 我没有说 and 我不说. 我没有说 means *the fact that I have said it is **non-existent***, that is to say, *I haven't said it*. 我不说 means *I won't say it*.

Hope this clear.


---

