HSK 6 · Function Words

不料 búliào “unexpectedly” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 不料 means

  1. unexpectedly
  2. to one’s surprise

How to say 不料

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale不bú2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale料liào4th tone, falling

Tone change. 不 is bù on its own. Before a fourth tone it changes to bú, and textbooks write that change in, as here. How tone changes work

不料 in a sentence

  1. 我以为他会来，不料他生病了。

    Wǒ yǐwéi tā huì lái, búliào tā shēngbìng le.

    I thought he’d come, but unexpectedly he fell ill.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 本来天气很好，不料下午下起了大雨。

    Běnlái tiānqì hěn hǎo, búliào xiàwǔ xià qǐ le dàyǔ.

    The weather was lovely, but then, to our surprise, it poured in the afternoon.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 不料 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 sobú in 不料

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 料 (liào) with each of its parts in a different colour
料liàomaterial
  • 米rice · mǐ
  • 斗dipper · dǒu

Memory aidRice 米 measured with a dipper 斗: material, to estimate.

How to write 不料

不 4 strokes · 料 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 不料

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 料

饮料yǐnliào · beverage材料cáiliào · (raw) material塑料袋sùliàodài · plastic bag资料zīliào · material原料yuánliào · raw material调料tiáoliào · seasoning意料yìliào · expectation预料yùliào · to expect

More words: Function Words & Grammar

不顾búgù · regardless of不禁bùjīn · can’t help (doing)不堪bùkān · unbearable不愧búkuì · to be worthy of不免bùmiǎn · inevitably不惜bùxī · not to hesitate (to)不由得bùyóude · can’t help (doing)不止bùzhǐ · more than

FAQs

不料 (búliào) means “unexpectedly” or “to one’s surprise”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it búliào: bú with a 2nd tone, then liào with a 4th tone. 不 is bù on its own. Before a fourth tone it changes to bú, and textbooks write that change in, as here. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 不料 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type buliao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 不料 from the suggestions. Typing buliao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
不料 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.