You are at a shop in Beijing and the clerk asks whether you have a membership card. You need a simple way to say you do not possess one. That is exactly what 没有 (méiyǒu) covers in Mandarin — it lets you state that you lack something, or that something is absent from a place.
没有 means "not have" in Chinese. You place it wherever 有 (yǒu, "to have") would go in a sentence. The key rule: 有 can only be negated with 没, never with 不 (bù). The core example is:
我没有车 (wǒ méiyǒu chē) — "I don't have a car"
Here, 没有 directly follows 我 (wǒ, "I") and precedes the object 车 (chē, "car"). Swap in any object — a phone, a pet, a book — and the structure stays the same.
This 10-minute live conversation targets one grammar pattern: 没有 (méiyǒu). You speak out loud with Mei Lin, our AI teacher, in real time. She listens, corrects your grammar and pronunciation naturally, and adjusts to your level.
During the conversation, you practice telling Mei Lin what you lack — a car, a pet, a membership card — and saying when something is unavailable or does not exist somewhere. Instead of memorizing rules, you use 没有 in back-and-forth dialogue until it feels automatic.
You can try your first conversation free. For extra writing practice, the free printable Chinese worksheet generator lets you print handwriting sheets for HSK 1 through HSK 3 vocabulary.
Ready for more? Browse all HSK 1 lessons, or continue with another HSK 1 live lesson on Describing Things using 很 (hěn), then move on to the Me Too! session on 也 (yě).
没有 (méiyǒu) means "not have" in Chinese. You place it where 有 (yǒu) would go in a sentence. A key rule: 有 can only be negated with 没, never with 不 (bù). The example from this session is 我没有车 (wǒ méiyǒu chē), meaning you do not have a car.
In this live conversation, you practice telling Mei Lin what you lack — a car, a pet, or any object — and saying something is unavailable or absent from a place. Mei Lin corrects your grammar and pronunciation as you speak, adapting the conversation to your level.
No. 有 (yǒu) can only be negated with 没, never with 不 (bù). This is a fixed rule in Mandarin. To say you do not have a car, you must use 没有 (méiyǒu), not 不有.
Each live conversation runs about 10 minutes and targets one grammar pattern. This one focuses entirely on 没有 (méiyǒu), so you get concentrated practice using it in real dialogue with Mei Lin.