丢三落四

丟三落四
diūsān-làsì
idiom HSK 7-9

Meanings

  1. 1 forgetful
  2. 2 scatterbrained
  3. 3 always leaving things behind

Characters

Literally "lose three, leave four" - forget one thing, then another

Examples

HSK 6
Niánjì dà le, nánmiǎn yǒuxiē diūsān-làsì.
At my age a bit of forgetfulness is hard to avoid.
HSK 7-9
Tā zuòshì diūsān-làsì, jiāodài guo de shì chángcháng wàngjì.
He is hopelessly scatterbrained and often forgets what he has been asked to do.
HSK 7-9
Chūmén qián duō jiǎnchá jǐ cì, miǎnde diūsān-làsì.
Check a few more times before you leave, so you don't forget half of it.

Tips

mistakes
The third character takes the là reading here, not luò. That reading means to leave something behind by accident: , I left my umbrella on the bus.
history
Recorded in 《红楼梦》, in a line about getting ready early so that nothing is missing at the last minute. The three and the four are not literal counts; they simply stand for one thing after another.

Stroke Order

diū
sān
luò