desperately serious disastrous; terrible (adj.)
HSK 5
Traditional
不得了 (unaltered)
Radicals
Stroke order
Examples
这场暴风雨把我们的房子淹没了，情况真是不得了。 zhè chǎng bàofēngyǔ bǎ wǒmen de fángzi yānmò le, qíngkuàng zhēn shì bù dé le. - The storm flooded our house; the situation is really serious.
他听到这个坏消息后，吓得不得了。 tā tīng dào zhège huài xiāoxī hòu, xià de bù dé le. - He was scared to death when he heard the bad news.
这场表演太精彩了，观众们鼓掌不得了。 zhè chǎng biǎoyǎn tài jīngcǎi le, guānzhòngmen gǔzhǎng bù dé le. - The performance was so wonderful; the audience applauded enthusiastically.
他的新发现使他高兴得不得了。 tā de xīn fāxiàn shǐ tā gāoxìng de bù dé le. - He was overjoyed with his new discovery.
这个笑话真是逗得人笑不得了。 zhège xiàohuà zhēn shì dòu de rén xiào bù dé le. - This joke is so funny that it makes people laugh uncontrollably.
Characters
不 bù - not; no (negation) | HSK 1
了 le - particle, intensifies previous action, indicates a change or completed action | HSK 1
得 de - [particle to connect verb to adverb] | HSK 2
得 de - feel | HSK 4