Talk about having things with 有 (yǒu)
You can talk about having things with the word 有 (yǒu) - “have”.

Linking Adjectives and Nouns
In Chinese, nouns don’t need a verb to be linked to adjectives. That's because, in Chinese adjectives, the verb is already assumed!

Structure
[subject] + 有 + [object]

EXAMPLE
我有一个妹妹。 wǒ yǒu yī gè mèimei. I have a younger sister.
我有一本漫画。 wǒ yǒu yī běn màn huà. I have a manga.
他有一把刀！ tā yǒu yī bǎ dāo! He has a knife!

Expressing existence with 有 (yǒu)
It talks about there’s something in that location.

Structure
[where] + 有 + [object]

EXAMPLE
我家有五口人。 wǒ jiā yǒu wǔ kǒu rén. There are five people in my home.
公园里有很多老人。 gōng yuán lǐ yǒu hěn duō lǎo rén. There are many old people in the park.
我的包里有纸巾。 wǒ de bāo lǐ yǒu zhǐ jīn。 There is tissue in my bag.

Talk about not having things with 没 (méi)
To talk about “not having” something, you negate the word 有 (yǒu) with 没 (méi). The short form of 没有 is 没, you can use both as they have the same meaning.

Structure
[subject] + 没有/ 没 + [object]

EXAMPLE
我没有车。 wǒ méi yǒu chē. I don't have a car.
他们没钱。 tā men méi qián. They don't have money.
他没有学位。 tā méi yǒu xué wèi. He doesn't have a degree.

Talk about negating the past
Let's see how 没 (méi) works to negate the past.

Structure
[Subject] + 没 + [Verb] + [Object]

EXAMPLE
他 昨天没来。 tā zuó tiān méi lái. He didn't come yesterday.
我 昨天没去 学校。 wǒ zuó tiān méi qù xué xiào。 I didn't go to school yesterday.
我没看见 你。你 在 哪里？ wǒ méi kàn jiàn nǐ。 nǐ zài nǎ lǐ？ I didn't see you. Where are you?