HSK 6 · Function Words

不由得 bùyóude “can’t help (doing)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 不由得 means

  1. can’t help (doing)
  2. cannot but
  3. can’t help

How to say 不由得

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale不bù4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale由yóu2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own得deneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

不由得 in a sentence

  1. 不由得想起了故乡。

    Bùyóude xiǎngqǐ le gùxiāng.

    I couldn’t help thinking of my hometown.

    Sentence #2394350 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 不由得 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 不 (bù) drawn as one shape
不bùno; not so

不 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidPicture a bar 一 across the top that nothing below can get past: not, no.

The character 由 (yóu) drawn as one shape
由yóuto follow

由 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 得 (de) with each of its parts in a different colour
得destructural particle: used after a verb
  • 彳step · chì
  • 旦dawn · dàn
  • 寸inch · cùn

Memory aidA hand 寸 picking up a shell, once used as money, while out on the road 彳: to get.

How to write 不由得

不 4 strokes · 由 5 strokes · 得 11 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

不由得 (bùyóude) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 不由得 (bùyóude). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 不由得

Words with 不

不bù · no不要bùyào · don’t!不客气bú kèqi · you’re welcome对不起duìbuqǐ · sorry不错bùcuò · not bad不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed不但búdàn · not only不同bùtóng · different不少bùshǎo · quite a few不见bújiàn · to be missing

Words with 由

由yóu · by由于yóuyú · due to自由zìyóu · freedom理由lǐyóu · reason

Words with 得

得de · particle linking a verb to how it is done (e.g. 跑得快觉得juéde · to feel记得jìde · remember得到dédào · to get得分défēn · to score (points)懂得dǒngde · to understand认得rènde · to recognise获得huòdé · to obtain得意déyì · proud of oneself值得zhíde · to be worth

More words: Function Words & Grammar

不愧búkuì · to be worthy of不料búliào · unexpectedly不免bùmiǎn · inevitably不惜bùxī · not to hesitate (to)不止bùzhǐ · more than成心chéngxīn · on purpose除chú · except大不了dàbuliǎo · at worst

FAQs

不由得 (bùyóude) means “can’t help (doing)” or “cannot but”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it bùyóude: bù with a 4th tone, then yóu with a 2nd tone, then de with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 不由得 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type buyoude with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 不由得 from the suggestions. Typing buyoude into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
不由得 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.