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谈不上

談不上
tánbùshàng
phrase HSK 7-9 #28,877

Meanings

  1. 1 can hardly be called
  2. 2 not worthy of being called
  3. 3 far from

Characters

谈
tán
to talk; to speak of
不
bù
not
上
shàng
up; reaching the level of
Literally 'can't talk up to' — meaning it doesn't reach that level

Examples

我的中文谈不上好，只是能交流。
Wǒ de Zhōngwén tánbùshàng hǎo, zhǐshì néng jiāoliú.
My Chinese can hardly be called good; I can just communicate.
这顿饭谈不上丰盛，但很好吃。
Zhè dùn fàn tánbùshàng fēngshèng, dàn hěn hǎochī.
This meal can hardly be called lavish, but it's delicious.

Tips

grammar
谈不上 is a resultative complement structure (谈 + 不 + 上). It's used to modestly or honestly say something doesn't reach a certain standard.

Stroke Order

谈 tán
不 bù
上 shàng