Mandarin · Chapter 3 · Lesson 2 · Grammar primer
Possession with 有 (yǒu): to have
Positive and negative ('I have', 'I do not have'). The hard rule: 有 is negated with 没, never with 不.
The short version
The A-not-A of 有没有 (yǒu méi yǒu), never 有不有 (yǒu bu yǒu)
有 (yǒu) accepts only one negator, so the verb-not-verb question has to be built on 没 (méi): 你有没有时间 (nǐ yǒu méi yǒu shí jiān). If you catch yourself about to write 有不有 (yǒu bu yǒu), the 没有 (méi yǒu) rule has slipped somewhere upstream. It is a useful self-check on a rule with no exceptions at all.
你有没有时间? Nǐ yǒu méi yǒu shí jiān?
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