Useful extra · HSK 1 list

没 méi “no” in Chinese

Traditional 沒

What 没 means

  1. no, not have
  2. (negative prefix for verbs) have not
  3. not

How to say 没

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale没méi2nd tone, rising

没 in a sentence

  1. 没人知道他的名字。

    Méi rén zhīdao tā de míngzi.

    Nobody knows his name.

    Sentence #454307 from Tatoeba

  2. 你什么都没跟他说？

    Nǐ shénme dōu méi gēn tā shuō?

    You didn’t tell him anything?

    Sentence #502756 from Tatoeba

  3. 怎么没人告诉我。

    Zěnme méi rén gàosu wǒ.

    Why didn’t anyone tell me?

    Sentence #13894767 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 没 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 没 (méi) with each of its parts in a different colour
没méihave not; not
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 殳weapon · shūSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 殳 (shū) hints at the sound. Compare it with méi.

Memory aidWater 氵 gives the meaning: it first meant “to sink under water”. Now it is mostly “not have”.

How to write 没

没 7 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

没 (méi) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 没 (méi). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 没

Words with 没

没有méiyǒu · not to have没事méishì · it’s nothing没关系méi guānxi · it’s okay没意思méiyìsi · boring埋没máimò · to bury淹没yānmò · to submerge

More words: Useful Extras

你们nǐmen · you (plural)他们tāmen · they你好nǐ hǎo · hello这儿zhèr · here那儿nàr · there男人nánrén · man女人nǚrén · woman歌gē · song

FAQs

没 (méi) means “no, not have” or “(negative prefix for verbs) have not”. It is not on the official HSK lists, but we teach it with HSK 1 because learners need it early.
Say it méi: méi with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 没 is written 沒. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type mei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 没 from the suggestions. Typing mei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
没 is not on the official HSK 2.0 word lists. It is a useful extra on our HSK 1 list, because learners need it from the start.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.