Learn Hardcore Chinese: wǒ hé tā de xiǎngfǎ bù tóng.

The 的 attaches to 她 (and in the full version, also to 我) to form 她的想法 “her ideas”, 我的想法 “my ideas”. When you see X 和 Y 的 N, very often it comes from something like X 的 N 和 Y 的 N where one part has been dropped to avoid repetition.

What is the role of 的 in this sentence? Why do we need it?

的 is an attributive/possessive marker. It turns what comes before it into a modifier for the noun that follows.

她的想法 → 她 (she) + 的 → her (possessive) + 想法 (idea/thinking)
= her idea(s)

If you write the full, very explicit version:

我的想法和她的想法不同。
- 我的想法 = my ideas
- 她的想法 = her ideas

In 我和她的想法不同, the 的 specifically marks 她的想法 “her ideas”. The 我的想法 part is understood/omitted.

You cannot normally drop 的 before 想法 if you want to mean “someone’s ideas”:

✅ 我的想法
❌ 我想法 (ungrammatical as “my ideas” in this context)

Why is there no word like “from” (as in “different from her”) in Chinese here?

Chinese often encodes “different from” structurally rather than with a separate word like “from”.

Compare:

English: My ideas are different from her ideas.
Chinese: 我的想法和她的想法不同。

Here, 和 connects the two things being compared (my ideas and her ideas), and 不同 “not the same” serves as the predicate. The “from” is implicit in the A 和 B 不同 pattern.

Common patterns for “different from”:

A 和 B 不同。
A 跟 B 不同。
A 和 B 不一样。

All of these mean “A is different from B” without any explicit preposition like “from”.

Why is there no 是 in 我和她的想法不同? Can I say 我和她的想法是不同的?

Adjectives in Chinese can directly function as predicates without 是:

今天很冷。 = Today (is) cold.
他很忙。 = He (is) busy.

不同 here is an adjective meaning “not the same / different”, so:

我和她的想法不同。
literally: “Her and my ideas different.”

You can say:

我和她的想法是不同的。

This is also grammatical and sounds a bit more emphatic or formal, but 是 is not required. In basic, neutral statements with adjectives as predicates, omitting 是 is standard.

Usually I see adjectives with 很, like 很高, 很忙. Why is there no 很 before 不同?

Two points:

Negation
When an adjective is negated with 不, you normally do not add 很 in the same way:
- 不高 = not tall / not high
- 不忙 = not busy
- 不同 = not the same / different
So 想法不同 is the normal, basic form.
很 often doesn’t literally mean “very” in simple descriptions; it often just links the subject and adjective (like a dummy copula). But with 不, that linking function is no longer needed.

So 我和她的想法不同 is the natural way to say it; 我和她的想法很不同 is possible but emphasizes “very different”.

What is the difference between 和 and 跟 here? Could I say 我跟她的想法不同?

In this kind of sentence, 和 (hé) and 跟 (gēn) are very close in meaning and both are commonly used.

我和她的想法不同。
我跟她的想法不同。

Both can be understood as “My ideas are different from hers.”

Nuances:

和 is slightly more neutral/formal.
跟 is slightly more colloquial/spoken.

In practical everyday use, they are largely interchangeable in this pattern.

Can I drop the 的 and say 我跟她想法不同? Is that correct, and does it mean the same thing?

Yes, 我跟她想法不同 is also common and natural.

Roughly:

我跟她想法不同。
≈ 我的想法跟她(的想法)不同。

Here 想法 is associated with both 我 and 她 by context/ellipsis. There is no 的, but it’s understood that we are talking about both people’s ideas.

Meaning-wise, it’s the same: “My ideas are different from hers.”

So you can say:

我和她的想法不同。
我跟她想法不同。

Both are fine; the second is a bit more compact and colloquial.

Can I omit 想法 and just say 我跟她不同? What would that mean?

Yes, you can say:

我跟她不同。

This means “I am different from her.” It is more general: it doesn’t specify how you’re different. It could be personality, background, opinions, lifestyle, etc.

我跟她不同。 = We are different (in some way).
我跟她想法不同。 = Our thinking / ideas are different.

If you want to be clear that you’re talking about opinions/ideas, keeping 想法 is better.

What is the difference between 不同 and 不一样? Can I say 我和她的想法不一样 instead?

不同 and 不一样 are very close in meaning and often interchangeable in everyday speech.

不同 = not the same; different
不一样 = not the same; not alike

In this sentence, both are fine:

我和她的想法不同。
我和她的想法不一样。

Nuance:

不同 can sound a bit more formal or written in some contexts.
不一样 feels slightly more colloquial.

But the difference is small, and you’ll hear both versions.

Why is 不 used here instead of 没? What’s the difference in this context?

不 and 没/没有 are both negation words, but they are used differently:

不 negates states, habitual actions, general truths, and adjectives.
没/没有 negates past actions, existence, possession, completion.

不同 is an adjective (“not the same / different”), so it uses 不:

✅ 想法不同 (correct)
❌ 想法没同 (incorrect)

Similarly:

他不高。 = He is not tall.
他没高。 (not used to mean “he’s not tall”)

So 不 is the correct negation here.

What does 想法 mean exactly? Is it “thoughts”, “opinion”, or “way of thinking”?

想法 (xiǎngfǎ) covers several related ideas in English:

idea / opinion / view
- 你的想法是什么？ = What is your opinion/idea?
way of thinking / mindset
- 他的想法很传统。 = His way of thinking is very traditional.
thought (as in something you have in mind)
- 我有一个想法。 = I have an idea.

It can be countable (with a measure word):

一个想法 = one idea
很多想法 = many ideas

In 我和她的想法不同, it’s basically “our opinions/ways of thinking are different.”

How do I pronounce 不 in 不同? Is it bù tóng or bú tóng?

In isolation, 不 is bù (4th tone).
But 不 has a tone sandhi rule:

Before a 4th‑tone syllable, 不 is usually pronounced bú (2nd tone).

同 (tóng) is 2nd tone, actually—good to double‑check: 不 + 同; 同 is second tone, so rule is: 不 becomes bú before another 4th tone; but 同 is 2nd tone; hmm I must check: tóng is 2nd tone indeed. So tone sandhi doesn't apply; it's bù tóng. Need to correct analysis. Let's re-evaluate: Characters:

同 tóng (2nd tone). So preceding 不 remains 4th tone: bù tóng. So we must teach correct rule: Before 4th tone, become 2nd; here next is 2nd, so no change.

Let's redo Q&A accordingly. I must restart that answer carefully.

Redo:

Could I say 我们的想法不同 instead of 我和她的想法不同? Is there any difference?

Yes:

我们的想法不同。 = Our ideas are different.

This is grammatical and natural. The difference is:

我们 = “we/us” (who exactly is included depends on context).
我和她 = explicitly “she and I” (no one else).

So:

我们 could mean: she and I, plus maybe other people too.
我和她 guarantees you are talking about exactly two specific people: “she and I”.

Use 我和她 when you want to highlight that it’s specifically between the two of you.

Can I rearrange the sentence to 我的想法跟她的不一样? Is that natural?

Yes, that is a very common and natural pattern:

我的想法跟她的不一样。
literally: “My ideas and hers are not the same.”

Here:

我的想法 = my ideas
她的 (想法) = her (ideas) – 想法 is omitted but understood.
不一样 = not the same / different
跟 = with / compared to

This sentence is functionally the same as:

我和她的想法不同。
我跟她想法不同。

They all mean “My ideas are different from hers”, just with slightly different structures. All are very natural.