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不得了

bùdéliǎo
adjective/adverb HSK 5 #7,098

Meanings

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

Characters

不
bù
not
得
dé
to get; to obtain
了
liǎo
to finish; able to
Literally 'cannot be finished/handled' — implies something is extreme or serious

Examples

他高兴得不得了。
Tā gāoxìng de bù dé liǎo.
He was extremely happy.
不得了！房子着火了！
Bù dé liǎo! Fángzi zháohuǒ le!
This is terrible! The house is on fire!
今天热得不得了。
Jīntiān rè de bù dé liǎo.
It's unbearably hot today.

Tips

grammar
Two main patterns: (1) adj + 得不得了 means 'extremely adj'; (2) standalone 不得了 as an exclamation means 'this is terrible/serious!'
mistakes
Don't confuse 不得了 (bù dé liǎo, extremely) with 了不得 (liǎo bu dé, amazing/extraordinary). They have different emphasis.

Stroke Order

不 bù
得 dé
了 le