not
- 01 A1 Beginner
adv.you use this to make a word or sentence negative.
adv.the primary particle used to negate the meaning of a modified verb, adjective, or adverb.
Simple“She is not coming to the party tonight because she is tired.”
In context“The results were not as conclusive as the researchers had initially hoped, necessitating a second round of testing.”
Usageusually follows an auxiliary verb or 'be'; contracted to n't in informal speech.
PitfallI not like coffee. I do not like coffee.In modern English, 'not' usually needs a helping verb like 'do', 'be', or 'have' when negating a main verb.
Synonyms - 02 B1 Intermediate
adv.used to show the opposite of something, often to be polite or less direct.
adv.used to indicate the opposite or near-opposite of a quality, often functioning as a form of litotes or understatement.
Simple“The food was not bad, but it was a bit expensive.”
In context“It was not the most professional response, though it certainly addressed the client's immediate concerns.”
Teacher's tipCommon in phrases like 'not bad' or 'not exactly' to soften a statement.
Synonymsun hardly - 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
interj.used at the end of a sentence to show you were joking or being sarcastic.
interj.used as a post-positioned particle to signal that the preceding statement was intended ironically or sarcastically.
Simple“I really love doing extra homework on a Friday night... not.”
In context“Oh sure, I'd love to spend my entire weekend filing these papers... not.”
Usageplaced at the very end of a sentence after a brief pause.
Teacher's tipThis usage was very popular in the 1990s; it is still understood but can feel slightly dated to younger speakers.
Synonyms - 04 C1 Advanced
n.a rule in math or computers that changes 'true' to 'false'.
n.a unary operator that performs logical negation, inverting the truth value of its operand.
Simple“The computer uses a NOT gate to flip the signal from on to off.”
In context“The algorithm applies a NOT operation to the boolean variable to ensure the loop terminates correctly.”
Usageoften written in all capitals (NOT) in programming and logic contexts.
From Middle English not, nat, variant of noght, naht (“not, nothing”), from Old English *nōht, nāht (“nought, nothing”), short for nōwiht, nāwiht (“nothing”, literally “not anything”), corresponding to ne (“not”) + ōwiht, āwiht (“anything”), corresponding to ā (“ever, always”) + wiht (“thing, creature”). Cognate with Scots nat, naucht (“not”), Saterland Frisian nit (“not”), West Frisian net (“not”), Dutch niet (“not”), German nicht (“not”). Compare nought, naught and aught. More at no, wight, whit.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
For Spanish speakers Spanish restricts word-final /t/, so the final consonant of 'not' is dropped or dentalized to /θ/, giving /nɒθ/.
Spanish negates with pre-verbal 'no' and has no auxiliary 'do' ('no estudio'). Transferred directly, this drops do-support and produces 'I not study' or 'I not have'.
For Mandarin speakers Mandarin places the negative particle 不 (bù) or 没有 (méiyǒu) directly before the verb regardless of aspect, which leads learners to omit the auxiliary 'do' in English. This creates errors like 'I not like' instead of 'I do not like' because there is no Mandarin equivalent to the dummy auxiliary.
In Mandarin, the phrase 'not at all' is often expressed as 一点也不 (yīdiǎn yě bù), which literally translates to 'one bit also not'. This frequently produces the non-standard English construction 'not even a bit' in contexts where 'not at all' or 'not in the least' is required.
For Japanese speakers Japanese phonology lacks the /n/ onset followed by the low-back /ɑ/ vowel found in American English /nɑt/. Speakers often substitute the Japanese mora /no/ as in ノット (notto), resulting in an /o/ sound instead of the open /ɑ/.
In Japanese, the negation particle ない (nai) or suffix 〜ない (~nai) typically appears at the end of the sentence or verb phrase. This L1 word order frequently causes learners to place 'not' after the main verb (e.g., 'I like not') rather than before it in English auxiliary structures.
The Japanese phrase 全然〜ない (zenzen ~nai) is used to express 'not at all.' Learners often translate the structure literally into English as 'at all not' or 'total not,' misplacing the intensifying adverb relative to the negative particle.