HSK 5 · Adjectives

了不起 liǎobuqǐ “amazing” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 了不起 means

  1. amazing
  2. terrific
  3. extraordinary

How to say 了不起

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale了liǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • 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 third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale起qǐ3rd tone, dipping

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

了不起 in a sentence

  1. 他以为自己很了不起。

    Tā yǐwéi zìjǐ hěn liǎobuqǐ.

    He thinks he’s really something.

    Sentence #876370 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 他是一位非常了不起的学者。

    Tā shì yí wèi fēicháng liǎobuqǐ de xuézhě.

    He is a truly remarkable scholar.

    Sentence #885381 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 这个穷小子最后成为了一个了不起的艺术家。

    Zhè ge qióng xiǎozi zuìhòu chéngwéi le yí ge liǎobuqǐ de yìshùjiā.

    The poor young man eventually became a great artist.

    Sentence #385819 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 了不起 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 了 (liǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
了liǎoto finish
  • 乛part of the character
  • 亅hook · jué
The character 不 (bù) drawn as one shape
不bùno; not solight in 了不起

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 起 (qǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
起qǐto rise
  • 走walk · zǒuMeaning part
  • 己self · jǐSound part

走 hints at the meaning (walk); 己 (jǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with qǐ.

How to write 了不起

了 2 strokes · 不 4 strokes · 起 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 了不起

Words with 了

了le · aspect particle了解liǎojiě · comprehend除了chúle · besides为了wèile · in order to受不了shòubùliǎo · unbearable不得了bùdéliǎo · extremely大不了dàbuliǎo · at worst一目了然yímùliǎorán · clear at a glance

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 起

对不起duìbuqǐ · sorry一起yìqǐ · together起床qǐchuáng · to get up起qǐ · to rise起飞qǐfēi · take off in an aeroplane起来qǐlai · beginning or continuing an action引起yǐnqǐ · to give rise to看不起kànbuqǐ · to look down upon起初qǐchū · at first起草qǐcǎo · to draft

More words: Adjectives

客观kèguān · objective烂làn · rotten老实lǎoshi · honest乐观lèguān · optimistic良好liánghǎo · good灵活línghuó · flexible密切mìqiè · close苗条miáotiao · (of a woman) slim

FAQs

了不起 (liǎobuqǐ) means “amazing” or “terrific”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it liǎobuqǐ: liǎo with a 3rd tone, then bu with a neutral tone, then qǐ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 了不起 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type liaobuqi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 了不起 from the suggestions. Typing liaobuqi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
了不起 is an HSK 5 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.