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

• 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. There's no way to go out for lunch.
• 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.
• 没有 水，我们 没 办法 洗 衣服。Méiyǒu shuǐ, wǒmen méi bànfǎ xǐ yīfu. There's no water. There's no way for us to wash clothes.
• 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.
• 他 不 开 门，所以 她 没 办法 进去。Tā bù kāi mén, suǒyǐ tā méi bànfǎ jìnqù. He didn't open the door, so she has no way to enter.
• 你 不 会 说 中文，没 办法 在 我们公司 工作。Nǐ bù huì shuō Zhōngwén, méi bànfǎ zài wǒmen gōngsī gōngzuò. You can't speak Chinese, so there is no way for you to work for our company.
• 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 bāng nǐ. The boss didn't say yes, so I have no way to help you.
• 这里 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