没办法

沒辦法

méibànfǎ

phrase

Meanings

1 there's nothing to be done
2 can't be helped
3 no way around it

Characters

to handle; to manage

Examples

下雨了,没办法,我们改天再去吧。

Xià yǔ le, méi bànfǎ, wǒmen gǎitiān zài qù ba.

It's raining — nothing we can do, let's go another day.

他就是这种性格,你拿他没办法。

Tā jiùshì zhè zhǒng xìnggé, nǐ ná tā méi bànfǎ.

That's just how he is — you can't do anything about him.

对不起,这件事我真的没办法。

Duìbuqǐ, zhè jiàn shì wǒ zhēn de méi bànfǎ.

Sorry, there's really nothing I can do about this.

Tips

usage

Extremely common — used both as a standalone interjection ('what can you do?') and as a verb phrase ('can't help it / can't do anything about it'). The fixed pattern 拿 X 没办法 means 'have no way to deal with X'.

Stroke Order

没 méi

办 bàn

法 fǎ