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不得了

bù dé liǎo
HSK 2.0 Level 5 HSK 3.0 Level 5 Adjective Uncommon

Definitions

  1. 1. desperately serious
  2. 2. disastrous
  3. 3. extremely
  4. 4. exceedingly

Word relationships

Synonyms

3 items
严重
yán zhòng

grave

desperately serious; disastrous
非常
fēi cháng

very; really

extremely; exceedingly
了不得
liǎo bu de

terrific

extremely; exceedingly (colloquial)

Usage notes

Collocations

不得了 is often used with 得 in complements like 高兴得不得了 (extremely happy), and after 了 as in 不得了了 to mean 'something serious has happened'.

Common mistakes

不得了 cannot be directly placed before nouns; for example, use 重要的事情 (important matter) instead of 不得了的事 (incorrect structure).

Grammar

Guides that feature 不得了

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1 guide
HSK 2.0 Level 5+ HSK 3.0 Level 5+ 7 min
Advanced Degree Complements

Use degree complements like 得不得了, 得多, and 得要命 without overusing 很.

Reading: bù dé liǎo Open guide

Example Sentences

1 shown
他高兴得 不得了 。
He is extremely happy.

AI-generated examples are marked with this icon.

Child Words of 不得了

不
bù

no; not so

了
le

(completed action marker)

得
dé

to obtain

得
de

structural particle: used after a verb (or adjective as main verb), linking it to following phrase indicating effect, degree, possibility etc

得
děi

to have to

得了
dé le

all right!

得了
dé liǎo

(emphatically, in rhetorical questions) possible

了
liǎo

(of eyes) bright

不得
bù dé

must not