What 不得不 means
- Forced to (can’t avoid to - have no choice but to - have to)
These meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the Chinese to Pinyin translator and the Chinese to English translator, so a whole sentence containing 不得不 will read it the same way this page does.
Character by character
How to write 不得不
Stroke order is not decoration — it is what makes handwriting legible and what dictionary lookup by stroke count depends on.
Practise 不得不 on printable 田字格 sheets, trace it in the writing practice tool, or watch any other character in the Stroke Order Animator.
Questions about 不得不
What does 不得不 mean in English?
不得不 is pronounced bùdébù and means Forced to (can’t avoid to - have no choice but to - have to).
How do you pronounce 不得不?
不得不 is bùdébù in pinyin — written budebu without tone marks. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice.
What are the characters in 不得不?
不得不 is written with 3 characters: 不 (bù) No (not), 得 (dé / děi / de) Get; Have to (need), 不 (bù) No (not). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.
Is 不得不 an HSK word?
Yes — 不得不 is on the official HSK 4 vocabulary list. You can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 4 page.
Studied around the same time
Keep going
Translate a whole sentence containing 不得不 with the Chinese to Pinyin translator, study it alongside the rest of HSK 4, drill it with HSK flashcards, or save it above and review it on your review deck.
Browse the dictionary
Every word on this site links to its entry — tap any word in a graded reader, a translation result or an HSK list to land on a page like this one.
Dictionary index