How to say it in Chinese

May not in Chinese

may not · HSK 6

不得 bù dé

  1. 不 bù not
  2. 得 dé to obtain

Hear 不得 and see more sentences

Other ways to say may not

More words with 不 or 得

How do you say may not in Chinese?

May not in Chinese is 不得 (bù dé). You can also say 未必 (wèi bì).

Which word should I use?

Start with the first one: it is the easiest on the HSK list. The others say it too, often in a more formal way or for a narrower sense; each one’s page has real sentences that show how it is used.

Where do these words come from?

Our own dictionary’s meanings for the official HSK word list. A word is shown for an English word when that is one of its first meanings; the easiest word whose first meaning it is comes first.

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Meanings from our own dictionary. Chinese often has more than one way to say a word.