无能为力

无能为力 wúnéngwéilì

Powerless (helpless)

无能为力 in a sentence HSK 6 繁體 無能為力 wunengweili

What 无能为力 means

  1. Powerless (helpless)

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 无能为力 will read it the same way this page does.

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Character by character

无能为力 is written with 4 characters. Chinese words are usually easier to remember once you can see what each part contributes.

无
wú
Not have (-less - not - never mind - un-)
能
néng
Can (ability - capable - energy)
为
wèi / wéi
For (in order to - because of); Act as (to be)
力
lì
Strength (force - power)

How to write 无能为力

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Practise 无能为力 on printable 田字格 sheets, trace it in the writing practice tool, or watch any other character in the Stroke Order Animator.

无能为力 in a sentence

这件事我实在无能为力。
Zhè jiàn shì wǒ shízài wú néng wéi lì.
There is truly nothing I can do about this.
面对天灾,人有时无能为力。
Miànduì tiānzāi, rén yǒushí wú néng wéi lì.
In the face of natural disaster people are sometimes powerless.

Every sentence on this site that uses 无能为力 is collected on the 无能为力 sentence page. Want pinyin above a sentence of your own? Paste it into the Pinyin Annotator.

Questions about 无能为力

What does 无能为力 mean in English?

无能为力 is pronounced wúnéngwéilì and means Powerless (helpless).

How do you pronounce 无能为力?

无能为力 is wúnéngwéilì in pinyin — written wunengweili without tone marks. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice.

What are the characters in 无能为力?

无能为力 is written with 4 characters: 无 (wú) Not have (-less - not - never mind - un-), 能 (néng) Can (ability - capable - energy), 为 (wèi / wéi) For (in order to - because of); Act as (to be), 力 (lì) Strength (force - power). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.

How is 无能为力 written in traditional Chinese?

無能為力. The simplified form 无能为力 is used in mainland China and Singapore; 無能為力 is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Both are pronounced wúnéngwéilì.

Is 无能为力 an HSK word?

Yes — 无能为力 is on the official HSK 6 vocabulary list. You can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 6 page.

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