bet most of you have confused about the differences between 不 (bù) and 没 (méi). And when you say a Chinese sentence, your Chinese teacher would say: in this case you should say 没 (méi) rather than 不 (bù).

Both 不 (bù) and 没 (méi) can be placed in front of a verb or adjective to negate its meaning. However, 不 (bù) and 没 (méi) are not usually interchangeable, so it's important to learn when you must use 不 (bù) as opposed to 没 (méi), and vice versa.

1不 is for negating in the present and future

不 (bù) is generally used to negate an action that you do not want to do or do not intend to do (in the future). So expressing things like "I don't want to go" or "I'm not going" would be uses of 不 (bù).

Subj. + 不 + Verb

eg.

2 不 is used to negate habitual actions

不 (bù) can be used to negate habitual actions, to express what you just aren't in the habit of doing, such as eating meat, or watching TV, or drinking alcohol. This is simply done by placing 不 (bù) in front of the verb.

3 不 is normally used with adjectives

When it comes to a simple negation of an adjective (such as "not cold"), use 不 (bù).

不 + Adj.

4 不 is used to ask questions

There are couple ways to use 不 (bù) to ask questions. One such way is through affirmative-negative questions. This is done by stating a verb and then immediately repeating that verb in a negative state (with 不 (bù)):

Subj. + Verb + 不 + Verb + Obj.

5 没 is used to negate past actions

没 (méi) and 没有 (méiyǒu) can both be used to negate actions that occurred in the past, or to say that something has not happened yet.

Subj. + 没(有) + Verb + Obj.

6 Only 没 is used to negate 有

没 (méi) can be used to negate the verb 有 (yǒu) ("to have") to mean "do not have." You can only use 没 (méi) to convey this meaning. It is grammatically incorrect to use 不 (bù) to negate 有 (yǒu).

Subject + 没有 + Object

7不 is used almost exclusively with some verbs

Certain verbs just don't get negated by 没 (méi) or 没有 (méiyǒu) ever. These include the verbs 是 (shì) ("to be") and 在 (zài) ("to be (in a place)"), as well as some psychological verbs such as 知道 (zhīdao) ("to know") and 认识 (rènshi) ("to know (a person)"). For these verbs, it's best to just take them on a case-by-case basis. Being aware of their existence can save you a fair bit of confusion.

eg.

bú shì 

不 是  

bú zài 

不 在  

bù zhī dào 

不 知  道  

bú rèn shí 

不 认  识  

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