Inability with "mei banfa"

If you are trying to express that something is impossible, you can use the phrase 没办法 (méi bànfǎ). 没办法 (méi bànfǎ) essentially means, "there is no way" and can be used in various situations.

Structure

One easy way to express inability is to use the phrase 没办法 (méi bànfǎ). Literally this translates as "to have no way" and is commonly used in situations where something is not possible. The structure:

Subj. + 没办法 + Verb + Obj.

Examples

• 他 没 带 手机，没 办法 给 我 打电话。 Tā méi dài shǒujī, méi bànfǎ gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà. He didn't bring his phone so he has no way to give me a call.
• 今天 太 忙 了，中午 没 办法 出去 吃饭。 Jīntiān tài máng le, zhōngwǔ méi bànfǎ chūqù chīfàn. It's too busy today.We have no way to go out for lunch.
• 没有 糖， 妈妈 没 办法 做 蛋糕 。 Méiyǒu táng, māma méi bànfǎ zuò dàngāo. Without sugar, there's no way for mom to make a cake.
• 这里 太 吵了，我 没 办法 工作。 Zhèlǐ tài chǎo le, wǒ méi bànfǎ gōngzuò. It‘s too noisy here.I can't work.
• 你 没 办法 让 所有 人 都 喜欢 你。 Nǐ méi bànfǎ ràng suǒyǒu rén dōu xǐhuan nǐ. There is no way you can make everyone like you.
• 他 不 会 说 中文 ， 没 办法 在 中国 找工作。 Tā bù huì shuō Zhōngwén, méi bànfǎ zài Zhōngguó zhǎo gōngzuò. He can't speak Chinese , so he has no means of finding a job in China.
• 事情 太 多 了 ， 我 今天 没 办法 做完。 Shìqing tài duō le, wǒ jīntiān méi bànfǎ zuòwán. There's too much to do, I have no way to finish today.
• 老板 不 同意，我 没 办法 帮 你。 Lǎobǎn bù tóngyì , wǒ méi bànfǎ bāngnǐ. The boss didn't say yes, so I have no way to help you.
• 这里 的 没有 WiFi， 我 没 办法 上网。 Zhèlǐ méiyǒu WiFi，wǒ méi bànfǎ shàngwǎng. There is no WiFi here, so I have no way of going online.
• 他 很 笨 ， 我 没 办法 跟 他 一起 工作 。 Tā hěn bèn, wǒ méi bànfǎ gēn tā yīqǐ gōngzuò. He's really dumb, there is no way I can work with him.

See also

• Negation of "you"
• Expressing ability or possibility

Sources and further reading

• Exemplification of Common Sentence Patterns in Spoken Chinese 汉语口语常用句式例解 (p. 159) →buy