Upper intermediateNegation

并不 and 并没有 (Bìng): Emphasize a Chinese Negation

Use 并不 and 并没有 to reject an assumption or emphasize that something is not true, without changing the basic negation.

Read the explanation ↓
并不并没有bìng bù; bìng méiyǒu

Example

在中国创业并不容易,有很多的挑战。

Zài Zhōngguó chuàngyè bìng bù róngyì, yǒu hěn duō de tiǎozhàn.

In China, starting a business really isn't easy. There are a lot of challenges.

Show

How to use 并不;并没有

Sentence pattern

Subject + 并 + 不 / 没有 + predicate

并 adds corrective emphasis to a negative statement. It often signals that an assumption is mistaken: something is less easy, less welcome, or less successful than another person might suppose. Depending on context, English may express this with actually, really, or simply a stressed negative. The sentence need not sound hostile, although disagreement can make the tone firmer.

Place 并 before the negative word, keeping the usual distinction between 不 and 没有. 并不 can precede verbs or adjectives, while 并没有 commonly denies an event or achieved result. It does not turn an ordinary negative into an absolute claim that no exceptions could ever exist.

Examples with pinyin and English

在中国创业并不容易,有很多的挑战。

Zài Zhōngguó chuàngyè bìng bù róngyì, yǒu hěn duō de tiǎozhàn.

In China, starting a business really isn't easy. There are a lot of challenges.

我在大学读金融专业,但是当金融分析人员并不是我的梦想。

Wǒ zài dàxué dú jīnróng zhuānyè, dànshì dāng jīnróng fēnxī rényuán bìng bù shì wǒ de mèngxiǎng.

I'm majoring in finance at the university, but being a financial analyst is not at all my dream.

她结婚五年了,也生了一个孩子,但她并不爱她丈夫。

Tā jiéhūn wǔ nián le, yě shēng le yī gè háizi, dàn tā bìng bù ài tā zhàngfu.

She's been married for five years and she has a baby, but she doesn't love her husband at all.

你这样做其实并没有解决客户的问题。

Nǐ zhèyàng zuò qíshí bìng méiyǒu jiějué kèhù de wèntí.

What you did didn't actually solve our clients' problems at all.

What to remember

  • Place 并 directly before the negative.
  • Choose 不 or 没有 according to the intended meaning.
  • Use the construction to correct an expectation.

Practise the pattern

Practise this topic with the app’s grammar exercises. Your answers and review dates are saved separately from vocabulary practice.

Practise this grammar topic ↗

Look up the grammar words

并不 · 并没有

Source and editorial notes

Explanation rewritten for Laowai. Examples are adapted from the Laowai English grammar curriculum, with editorial corrections where needed. The original curriculum credits AllSet Learning’s Chinese Grammar Wiki as used with permission. Read the retained source credits.

Difficulty labels describe the level of the explanation; they are not official HSK placement. Send a correction with this page’s URL.