了不得 (le) — (stative verb) terrific, extraordinary, exceptionally good; (stative verb) terrible, awful, extremely bad; (used as a complement after adjectives or verbs) extremely, to an extreme degree
Definition
了不得 (liǎobude) means 'extraordinary' and works in two directions: 'terrific' (positive) or 'terrible' (negative), depending on context. It can also follow an adjective or verb as a complement to mean 'extremely', as in 高兴得了不得.
adjective
(stative verb) terrificextraordinaryexceptionally good(stative verb) terribleawfulextremely bad(used as a complement after adjectives or verbs) extremelyto an extreme degree
Examples
- 了不得，。Tā zhēn le, ná le dì yī míng.He is really extraordinary; he got first place.
- 了不得，。Zhè jiàn shì tài le liǎo, wǒ men dōu hěn dān xīn.This matter is too terrible; we are all very worried.
- 。Tā gāo xìng dé le.He is extremely happy.
Appears in
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