HSK 4 · Verbs

来不及 láibují “not enough time (to do something)” in Chinese

Traditional 來不及

What 来不及 means

  1. not enough time (to do something)
  2. too late
  3. there’s not enough time (to do sth)
  4. it’s too late

How to say 来不及

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale来lái2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own不buneutral tone, light and short
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale及jí2nd tone, rising

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

来不及 in a sentence

  1. 时间快来不及了。

    Shíjiān kuài láibují le.

    We’re running out of time.

    Sentence #9958252 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 不，如果不从现在开始练习，就来不及了。

    Bù, rúguǒ bù cóng xiànzài kāishǐ liànxí, jiù láibují le.

    No — if you don’t start practising now, it’ll be too late.

    Sentence #1729545 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 我时间有点来不及，只能出门买大饼油条。

    Wǒ shíjiān yǒudiǎn láibují, zhǐnéng chūmén mǎi dàbǐng yóutiáo.

    I’m a bit short of time, so I can only pop out for flatbread and fried dough sticks.

    Sentence #420026 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 来不及 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 来 (lái) with each of its parts in a different colour
来láito come
  • 未part of the character
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā

Memory aidDrawn from a stalk of wheat. It was borrowed early on for “to come”.

The character 不 (bù) drawn as one shape
不bùno; not solight in 来不及

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 及 (jí) drawn as one shape
及jíand

及 is a single shape of 3 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 来不及

来 7 strokes · 不 4 strokes · 及 3 strokes

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

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

Words related to 来不及

Words with 来

来lái · to come出来chūlái · to come out过来guòlái · to come over回来huílai · to return进来jìnlái · to come in上来shànglái · to come up下来xiàlai · to come down后来hòulái · afterwards起来qǐlai · beginning or continuing an action带来dàilái · to bring (about)

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 及

及时jíshí · timely来得及láidejí · to have enough time及格jígé · to pass an exam or a test以及yǐjí · and及早jízǎo · as early as possible普及pǔjí · to popularise涉及shèjí · to involve迫不及待pòbùjídài · too impatient to wait力所能及lìsuǒnéngjí · within one’s ability

More words: Common Verbs

开玩笑kāiwánxiào · to play a joke肯定kěndìng · to be certain困kùn · to trap拉lā · to pull来得及láidejí · to have enough time来自láizì · to come from (a place)浪费làngfèi · to waste理发lǐfà · to get a haircut

FAQs

来不及 (láibují) means “not enough time (to do something)” or “too late”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it láibují: lái with a 2nd tone, then bu with a neutral tone, then jí with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 来不及 is written 來不及. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type laibuji with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 来不及 from the suggestions. Typing laibuji into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
来不及 is an HSK 4 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.