tā búhuì fēi.

he

Breakdown of tā búhuì fēi.

• 不会búhuì: to not know how to; will not
• 飞fēi: to fly

Questions & Answers about tā búhuì fēi.

Why is 不 written as bù but pronounced bú in 不会?

This is because of a very common tone change rule in Mandarin.

• 不 is normally fourth tone: bù
• But when 不 comes before another fourth-tone syllable, it changes to second tone: bú

So:

• 不
  • 会 (huì) → 不会 (búhuì)

Since 会 is fourth tone, 不 changes from bù to bú.

So the sentence is pronounced:

• tā búhuì fēi

What does 会 mean here?

In this sentence, 会 means to know how to or to be able to because of learned ability.

So 不会飞 means:

• cannot fly
• doesn’t know how to fly
• is not able to fly

In other sentences, 会 can also mean other things, such as:

• will / future: 他会来。 = He will come.
• be likely to: 会下雨。 = It might rain.

But in 他不会飞, the meaning is about ability.

Why use 不会 instead of 不能?