HSK 5 · Verbs

舍不得 shěbude “to hate to part with” in Chinese

Traditional 捨不得

What 舍不得 means

  1. to hate to part with
  2. can’t bear to (give up or leave)
  3. to hate to do sth
  4. to begrudge

How to say 舍不得

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale舍shě3rd 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 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

舍不得 in a sentence

  1. 我们的老板就连给我们涨一点工资都舍不得。

    Wǒmen de lǎobǎn jiù lián gěi wǒmen zhǎng yìdiǎn gōngzī dōu shěbude.

    Our boss begrudged us even a small pay rise.

    Sentence #1397130 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我在这里有家人，离开时会很舍不得他们。

    Wǒ zài zhèlǐ yǒu jiārén, líkāi shí huì hěn shěbude tāmen.

    I have family here, and I’ll be sad to leave them.

    Sentence #13849249 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 舍不得 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 舍 (shè) with each of its parts in a different colour
舍shěto give up; to abandon
  • 人person · rénMeaning part
  • 舌tongue · shéSound part

人 hints at the meaning (person); 舌 (shé) hints at the sound. Compare it with shě.

The character 不 (bù) drawn as one shape
不bùno; not solight in 舍不得

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 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 舍不得

舍 8 strokes · 不 4 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.

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

Words related to 舍不得

Words with 舍

宿舍sùshè · dormitory锲而不舍qiè'érbùshě · to persevere

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 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: Common Verbs

洒sǎ · to sprinkle杀shā · to kill晒shài · to dry in the sun上当shàngdàng · to be fooled伸shēn · to stretch升shēng · to rise生产shēngchǎn · to produce省略shěnglüè · to leave out

FAQs

舍不得 (shěbude) means “to hate to part with” or “can’t bear to (give up or leave)”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it shěbude: shě with a 3rd tone, then bu with a neutral 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.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 舍不得 is written 捨不得. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shebude with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 舍不得 from the suggestions. Typing shebude into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
舍不得 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.