Recognize a negative directive
毋 and 勿 often express a prohibition or advice not to act. Some texts also use 無 in directive environments. Distinguish a request about conduct from an ordinary statement that something does not happen.
毋 · 勿 · 無
A reading procedure
- Identify the implied addressee.
- Find the action being discouraged.
- Translate the force of the instruction in context.
The same written 無 can also mean “not have”; syntax and situation matter.
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Find other occurrences of 毋 · 勿 · 無 ↗Search finds spelling; it does not automatically label every occurrence with this construction.
zimai · AI-assisted editorial notes · Editorial pilot · not independently reviewed. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Evidence and further study
Linked passages below provide the primary-text evidence for these editorial examples. The readings are not borrowed from, or endorsed by, the further-study references.
Kanseki Repository · pinned primary text witnesses
Textual evidence. Individual examples link to exact source files and lines.
Edwin G. Pulleyblank · Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar
Further study: word order, predication, nominalization, negation and complex sentences. Book content is not reproduced.
Robert Eno · Introduction to Literary Chinese, Part I
Further study: an academic primer with annotated readings and exercises. Not imported.
Introduction to Classical Chinese · Schonebaum and contributors
Further study: function words and reading lessons. CC BY-NC-SA material is not imported into this dataset.
Thesaurus Linguae Sericae
Further research: contextual historical senses and syntactic analysis. No TLS annotation import in this release.
5 examples in context
過則勿憚改
When at fault, do not be afraid to change.
過 supplies the circumstance and 則 the next response. 勿 makes a directive about 憚改. It does not report that fear is absent; it tells the addressee not to let fear prevent correction.
Check your reading · Is 勿 reporting a fact or giving a directive?
Giving a negative directive.
子曰：「無違。」
The Master said, “Do not depart from it.”
This extremely compressed answer leaves the relevant standard unstated. The following exchange explains conduct through 禮. Read on before deciding what 無違 forbids; translating it immediately as obedience to a particular person can overcommit.
Check your reading · Why is the next passage necessary?
It supplies the ritual context for the omitted standard.
經始勿亟
Begin the undertaking without haste.
勿 makes a directive concerning 亟. These words occur inside a quotation from the Odes within Mencius. Their source nesting matters: they are not presented as Mencius’s freshly spoken instruction to workmen.
Check your reading · What two levels of quotation are involved?
Mencius’s discussion and the Odes passage quoted within it.
無恃其不來，恃吾有以待也
Do not rely on the enemy's not coming; rely on having the means to meet them.
The first 無 introduces a directive, while 其 and 吾 contrast enemy and self. 有以 expresses having a means or basis; the object of 待 is supplied from the adversary under discussion. The distinction is between hoping for favorable behavior and preparing one's own capacity.
Check your reading · What does 有以 add beyond simply having something?
It presents a means or capacity for the following action.
己所不欲，勿施於人
Do not impose on others what you yourself do not want.
所不欲 forms the object-like topic picked up by the instruction. 勿 makes the clause a prohibition and 於人 identifies the recipient. The formula needs its interpersonal setting; it is not a claim that everyone shares precisely the same desires.
Check your reading · What distinguishes 勿 here from a description of what does not happen?
It directs the addressee not to act.