Potential complement "bu liao"

不了 (bùliǎo) is a very common potential complement that expresses you "can't do something." Note that the "了" here, when acting as part of a complement, is read as "liǎo" and never "le."

Structure

The potential complement 不了

It is used like this:

Verb + 不了

Examples

• 我 去 不了 了。 Wǒ qù bùliǎo le.I can't go.

See also

• Potential complement "bu xia"
• Potential complement "bu dong"
• Positive and negative potential complements

Sources and further reading

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (1st ed) (p. 203)

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HSK4