HSK 5 · Verbs

说不定 shuōbudìng “can’t say for sure” in Chinese

Traditional 說不定

What 说不定 means

  1. can’t say for sure
  2. maybe

How to say 说不定

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale说shuō1st tone, high and level
  • 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 fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale定dìng4th tone, falling

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

说不定 in a sentence

  1. 谁能赢这场比赛还说不定。

    Shéi néng yíng zhè chǎng bǐsài hái shuōbudìng.

    It’s still uncertain who will win this match.

    Sentence #717284 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 如果我运气够好的话，说不定会赢。

    Rúguǒ wǒ yùnqi gòu hǎo dehuà, shuōbudìng huì yíng.

    If I’m lucky enough, I might win.

    Sentence #787379 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 我一个月没见到小王了，他说不定已经回国了。

    Wǒ yí ge yuè méi jiàndào Xiǎo Wáng le, tā shuōbudìng yǐjīng huíguó le.

    I haven’t seen Xiao Wang for a month; perhaps he’s already gone back to his home country.

    Sentence #717290 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 说不定 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 说 (shuō) with each of its parts in a different colour
说shuōto speak; to talk; to say
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 兑cash · duìSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 兑 (duì) hints at the sound. Compare it with shuō.

The character 不 (bù) drawn as one shape
不bùno; not solight in 说不定

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 定 (dìng) with each of its parts in a different colour
定dìngto fix; to set; to make definite
  • 宀roof · mián
  • 疋roll of cloth · pǐ

Memory aidA roof 宀 over 正 “upright”, squashed at the bottom so it looks like 疋: settled, fixed.

How to write 说不定

说 9 strokes · 不 4 strokes · 定 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 说不定

Words with 说

说shuō · to speak说话shuōhuà · to speak听说tīngshuō · to hear (it said that)说明shuōmíng · to explain小说xiǎoshuō · novel胡说húshuō · to talk nonsense据说jùshuō · it is said that说服shuōfú · to persuade传说chuánshuō · legend学说xuéshuō · theory

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 定

一定yídìng · surely决定juédìng · decide定dìng · to decide肯定kěndìng · to be certain规定guīdìng · to stipulate否定fǒudìng · to negate确定quèdìng · to confirm固定gùdìng · to fix制定zhìdìng · to draw up稳定wěndìng · steady

More words: Thinking & Talking

确定quèdìng · to confirm确认quèrèn · to confirm善于shànyú · to be good at实话shíhuà · truth说服shuōfú · to persuade思考sīkǎo · to reflect on思想sīxiǎng · thought谈判tánpàn · to negotiate

FAQs

说不定 (shuōbudìng) means “can’t say for sure” or “maybe”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it shuōbudìng: shuō with a 1st tone, then bu with a neutral tone, then dìng with a 4th 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, 说不定 is written 說不定. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shuobuding with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 说不定 from the suggestions. Typing shuobuding into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
说不定 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.