得不偿失

得不償失

débù-chángshī

idiom HSK 7-9 #35,546

Meanings

HSK 5

为了省钱而伤害健康，那是得不偿失。

Wèile shěngqián ér shānghài jiànkāng, nà shì débù-chángshī.

Sacrificing your health to save money - that's more trouble than it's worth.

HSK 6

这样做得不偿失，还是算了吧。

Zhèyàng zuò débù-chángshī, háishi suànle ba.

Doing it this way isn't worth the cost - let's just forget it.

memory

得 (gain) 不 (cannot) 偿 (compensate) 失 (loss) - what you gain cannot compensate for what you lose. A perfect cost-benefit idiom.

得 de

不 bù

偿 cháng

失 shī