A-not-A questions — 是不是, 去不去, 好不好
Repeat the verb or adjective with 不 in the middle to ask a neutral yes/no question: 你去不去？ — Are you going or not? It means the same as the 吗 question but sounds more neutral, and the two never combine.
Structure
-
Verb + 不 + Verb
去不去？ 是不是？ 好不好？
-
有没有 + Noun/Verb
The 有 version uses 没, not 不.
-
First syllable + 不 + full word
喜不喜欢？ 知不知道？
How it works
Say the positive and the negative back to back and let the listener pick: 你去不去？ It is the everyday alternative to 吗, and slightly more neutral — 吗 can carry a faint expectation, while A-not-A is genuinely open.
With two-syllable verbs you may repeat only the first syllable: 你喜不喜欢？ is more idiomatic than 你喜欢不喜欢？, though both are correct. Same for 知不知道, 认不认识, 可不可以.
有 follows its own negation rule here as everywhere: 有没有, never 有不有. It works both for possession (你有没有钱？) and as "have you ever/yet" before another verb (你有没有去过？).
Two limits. Never add 吗 — the form is already a question. And an object goes after the whole A-not-A block: 你喜不喜欢中国菜？ Tagging 好不好？ or 行不行？ onto the end of a statement is the standard way to say "…OK?"
Examples
Quick drill — 5 questions
Five fill-in-the-gap questions built from the example sentences above. No sign-up, no score kept — just a check that the pattern has actually landed.
Choose the word that belongs in the gap:
Common mistakes
| ✗ Wrong | ✓ Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 你去不去吗？ | 你去不去？ | The A-not-A form already asks the question. 吗 on top is ungrammatical. |
| 你有不有钱？ | 你有没有钱？ | 有 is always negated with 没, in this pattern as in every other. |
| 你喜欢中国菜不喜欢？ | 你喜不喜欢中国菜？ | The object follows the whole A-not-A block; it does not split it. |
A-not-A questions — frequently asked questions
What is an A-not-A question in Chinese?
A yes/no question formed by saying the verb, then 不, then the verb again: 你去不去？ (Are you going?). It means the same as 你去吗？ but sounds more neutral, and the two forms are never combined.
How do you form A-not-A with a two-syllable verb?
Repeat just the first syllable: 你喜不喜欢？ (Do you like it?), 你知不知道？ (Do you know?). Repeating the whole word — 喜欢不喜欢 — is also correct but less common in speech.
Why is it 有没有 and not 有不有?
Because 有 is negated only with 没 in every construction in Chinese. 有不有 is not a possible form; use 你有没有时间？
Is A-not-A more polite than 吗?
Not more polite — more neutral. A 吗 question can hint at the answer you expect, while A-not-A leaves it genuinely open. Tagging 好不好？ or 行不行？ onto a suggestion is a common softener: 我们六点去，好不好？
Next, learn
Put it to work
Drill the vocabulary for this level on the HSK 2 word list, rebuild scrambled sentences in the Sentence Builder, read graded stories that use this pattern in the story library, or follow a step-by-step route through the whole site in Guided Learning Paths.