青春留不住

qīngchūnliúbuzhù

phrase

Meanings

1 youth cannot be kept
2 common poetic line — the years of youth slip away no matter how we try to hold them

Characters

(negative in resultative)

stay / hold fast

Examples

青春留不住，别把时间浪费在小事上。

Qīngchūn liú bu zhù, bié bǎ shíjiān làngfèi zài xiǎoshì shàng.

Youth cannot be kept — don't waste your time on trivial things.

听着旧歌，他感叹青春留不住。

Tīngzhe jiù gē, tā gǎntàn qīngchūn liú bu zhù.

Listening to old songs, he lamented that youth cannot be kept.

Tips

history

The phrase '青春留不住' recurs across Chinese pop lyrics and ci poetry; 朱敦儒 (Zhu Dunru, Southern Song) wrote '青春留不住，鬓上已堆霜' in 《鹧鸪天》. It is now a stock line in Mandopop (e.g. 张信哲, 张学友 covers).

grammar

留不住 = 'unable to keep / make stay.' 不住 is a resultative complement meaning 'cannot succeed in making something stay (put).'

Stroke Order

青 qīng

春 chūn

留 liú

不 bù

住 zhù