未尝 / 何尝: not necessarily not / how could… not
副词 / adverbs
Tone colorsā tone 1á tone 2ǎ tone 3à tone 4a neutral
Two classical words for softened or indirect statements:
• 未尝不 ("has never not") = polite double negative: "it may well be", "it's not out of the question". 这未尝不是一件好事 = this might well be a good thing.
• 何尝 ("when ever…?") = rhetorical question that denies: 我何尝不想去？ = "Do you think I don't want to go?" (= I really do). 我何尝说过？ = I never said that!
It's the art of saying things without saying them head-on, prized in formal Chinese.
Examples
失败未尝不是一种收获。
Shībài wèicháng bú shì yì zhǒng shōuhuò.Failure may well be a kind of gain too.
我何尝不想休息？可是工作太多了。
Wǒ hécháng bù xiǎng xiūxi? Kěshì gōngzuò tài duō le.Don't you think I'd like a rest? There's just too much work.
换一个角度看，这未尝不是一个机会。
Huàn yí ge jiǎodù kàn, zhè wèicháng bú shì yí ge jīhuì.Seen from another angle, this might well be an opportunity.
Common mistakes
✗ Reading 未尝不 as a negation: it's a cautious affirmation.
✗ Treating 何尝 as a real question: it's rhetorical; the meaning is the opposite of the form.