Definition
不得了 has two uses: as an adjective meaning 'disastrous, terrible' (stronger than 糟糕 and 可怕, often for a serious situation), and as a complement after 得 (e.g., 开心得不得了) meaning 'extremely, incredibly' — this structure is unique; 极为 is an adverb placed before the adjective, not a complement.
adjective
disastrousterribleawful (used to describe a serious situation)extremelyincredibly (used as a complement after 得 to intensify an adjective or verb)
Examples
- 不得了，！bù dé liǎo le, chēzi zhuàng huài le!Oh no, the car is crashed!
- ，不得了。Tīngdào zhège xiāoxi, tā kāixīn de bù dé liǎo.Hearing this news, he was incredibly happy.
- 不得了，。Zhè jiān wūzi zāng de bù dé liǎo, xūyào hǎohao dǎsǎo.This room is extremely dirty and needs a good cleaning.
Grammar
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