jīntiān wǒ yǒu shìqíng, bú qù kàn diànyǐng.

In Chinese, time words often come near the beginning of the sentence, before the main verb.

So:

今天我有事情，不去看电影。
= Today, I have something to do, so I’m not going to watch a movie.

A very common pattern is:

Time + subject + verb ...

For example:

今天我很忙。 = Today I’m very busy.
明天他去北京。 = Tomorrow he is going to Beijing.

You can also sometimes place the time after the subject:

我今天有事情。

That is also natural.

Yes, literally 有事情 means to have matters/things, but in natural English it often means:

• to have something to do
• to have plans
• to be occupied with something
• to have some business to take care of

So in this sentence, 我有事情 means the speaker is busy or has something important to deal with.

A very common shorter version is:

我有事。

This is often more natural in everyday speech than 我有事情.

Compare:

• 我有事。 = I have something to do.
• 我今天有事情。 = I have things to take care of today.

This is a tone change rule.

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

Here, the next word is 去 qù, which is fourth tone, so:

• 不去 is pronounced bú qù

More examples:

• 不是 → bú shì
• 不会 → bú huì
• 不看 stays bù kàn? Actually 看 kàn is also fourth tone, so it becomes bú kàn

So the change is about pronunciation, not meaning.

In Chinese, 不 usually goes before the verb it negates.

Here, the action is 去看电影 = go watch a movie / go to see a movie.

So:

• 去 = go
• 看电影 = watch a movie
• 不去看电影 = not go watch a movie

This means the speaker is not going to do that action.

You can think of the structure as:

不 + verb phrase

So:

• 不去 = not go
• 不看 = not watch

In this sentence, 不去看电影 emphasizes not going to watch a movie.

This is a very common Chinese pattern where two verbs appear together.

• 去 = to go
• 看电影 = to watch a movie
• 去看电影 = to go watch a movie / to go to see a movie

Chinese often uses verb sequences like this without needing extra words like to.

Examples:

• 去吃饭 = go eat
• 去买东西 = go buy things
• 来看看 = come take a look

So 去看电影 is completely normal and means the person is going somewhere for the purpose of watching a movie.

Chinese often connects ideas without explicitly stating words like so, therefore, or because of that.

So this sentence:

今天我有事情，不去看电影。

literally looks like:

Today I have things to do, not go watch a movie.

But the relationship between the two parts is understood naturally:

I have something to do today, so I’m not going to see a movie.

If you want to make the connection more explicit, you could say:

今天我有事情，所以不去看电影。

Here 所以 means so / therefore.

Both versions are natural. The version without 所以 is more concise.

Chinese does not use articles like English a, an, and the.

So 电影 can mean:

• movie
• a movie
• the movie

The exact meaning depends on context.

In 看电影, the phrase often means:

• watch a movie
• go to the movies

It is a very common expression, and no article is needed.

电影 means movie or film.

But in the phrase 看电影, it can be translated naturally as:

• watch a movie
• go to the movies

That is because the whole phrase refers to the activity, not just the object.

So:

• 电影 = movie
• 看电影 = watch a movie / go to the movies

If you want to refer to the movie theater itself, that would usually be:

电影院 = cinema / movie theater

Yes, you could, but the nuance is a little different.

• 不去看电影 = not go watch a movie
• 不看电影 = not watch movies / not watch a movie

In this sentence, 不去看电影 is more natural if you mean:

I’m not going to the movies today
or
I’m not going to go watch a movie today

It emphasizes the idea of going out to do that activity.

不看电影 can also work, but it sounds slightly less tied to the idea of physically going somewhere.

Both are correct, but 我有事 is usually more common and natural in everyday conversation.

Compare:

• 我有事。 = I have something to do.
• 我有事情。 = I have some matters/things to deal with.

我有事情 is not wrong, but it can sound a little fuller or more formal than 我有事 in casual speech.

So many native speakers would more naturally say:

今天我有事，不去看电影。

The comma separates the sentence into two connected parts:

1. 今天我有事情
2. 不去看电影

This makes the meaning easier to read:

Today I have something to do, so I’m not going to watch a movie.

Chinese punctuation is used somewhat similarly to English punctuation, and commas are often used to mark a pause or to separate related clauses.

So the comma here is natural and helpful, though the sentence structure itself is still simple.