In English to say something isn’t something else we use the word not. We do something similar in Lingala. The word te means no and is used like the word not to negate something. In contrast to English, it is always placed after the word or phrase it is negating, or at the end of the sentence or phrase. So:
azali mobali kitoko te
In this example the sentence literally reads as he is man beautiful not, or as we translate it into English he is not a handsome man.