In Emil Wakin Chau's song 朋友 péngyou, there is a line:
朋友不曾孤單過。
péngyou bùcéng gūdān guò.
I think the meaning is something like "friends haven't (ever) been/felt lonely".
I find this use of 不 bù alongside 過/过 guò odd, as it goes against the well-known rule that guò sentences are negated with 沒 méi. But I assume the song lyrics are correct and, in fact, I've found that 不曾 bùcéng appears in some dictionaries, and the Chinese Grammar wiki site[1] says that both 不曾 and 未曾 can be used to negate a past experience with guò. I was wondering if this use of bù with céng, or with the disyllabic version 曾經 céngjīng, is as common or acceptable as using méi(yǒu) or the formal 未 wèi. Consider the following alternatives:
朋友沒(有)孤單過。(1)
朋友沒(有)曾孤單過。(2)
朋友沒(有)曾經孤單過。(3)
朋友未孤單過。(4)
朋友未曾孤單過。(5)
朋友未曾經孤單過。(6)
朋友不曾孤單過。(7)
朋友不曾經孤單過。(8)
My three questions:
- Are all these versions acceptable?
- Is the meaning the same in all the valid cases?
- Are there any other cases of 過 guò sentences being negated with 不 bù and not using 曾 céng?
[1]: https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22once%22_with_%22cengjing%22 no