Bù can negate something you’ve done in the past or the present (or at least indicate you don’t generally do it these days), and it can also help negate something in the future:
他小的时候不喜欢唱歌. (tā xiǎo de shí hòu bú xǐ huān chàng gē ; When he was young he didn’t like to eat vegetables.)
我不要唱歌 ( wǒ bú yào chàng gē；I don’t want to sing.)
我不画画。(wǒ bú huà huà； I don’t paint.)
电影院星期天不开门。(diàn yǐng yuàn xīng qī tiān bù kāi mén ; The movie theatre won’t be open on Saturday.)
The negative prefix bù is usually spoken with a fourth (falling) tone. However, when it precedes a syllable with another fourth tone, it becomes a second (rising) tone instead, as in such words as búqù (won’t/didn’t/doesn’t go) and búyào (don’t/didn’t/won’t want).
Méiyôu is another negative prefix that also goes before a verb. It refers only to the past, though, and means either something didn’t happen or at least didn’t happen on a particular occasion:
我没有看那部电影. (wǒ méi yǒu kàn nà bù diàn yǐng ; I didn’t see that movie.)
昨天没有下雨 (zuó tiān méi yǒu xià yǔ ; It didn’t rain）
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