HSK 3.0 Level 4 · Everyday Verbs

无法 wúfǎ “to be unable to” in Chinese

Traditional 無法

What 无法 means

  1. to be unable to
  2. cannot
  3. unable to
  4. incapable of

How to say 无法

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale无wú2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale法fǎ3rd tone, dipping

无法 in a sentence

  1. 我无法相信自己的眼睛。

    Wǒ wúfǎ xiāngxìn zìjǐ de yǎnjing.

    I can’t believe my eyes.

    Sentence #332561 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我们无法改变过去。

    Wǒmen wúfǎ gǎibiàn guòqù.

    We can’t change the past.

    Sentence #3565121 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 对不起，我们无法满足您的要求。

    Duìbuqǐ, wǒmen wúfǎ mǎnzú nín de yāoqiú.

    Sorry, we’re unable to meet your requirements.

    Sentence #2440612 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 无法 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 无 (wú) with each of its parts in a different colour
无wúnot to have
  • 一one · yī
  • 尢lame · wāng
The character 法 (fǎ) with each of its parts in a different colour
法fǎlaw
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐ
  • 去to go away · qù

Memory aidTraditionally explained as water 氵, which always lies level and so is fair, with 去 (qù) “to remove”, driving the guilty away: law, method.

How to write 无法

无 4 strokes · 法 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 无法

Words with 无

无wú · not to have无聊wúliáo · bored无论wúlùn · no matter what or how无奈wúnài · to have no alternative无数wúshù · countless无所谓wúsuǒwèi · to not matter无赖wúlài · rogue无比wúbǐ · incomparable无耻wúchǐ · shameless无辜wúgū · innocent

Words with 法

办法bànfǎ · method法fǎ · law看法kànfǎ · way of looking at a thing语法yǔfǎ · grammar法律fǎlǜ · law方法fāngfǎ · method合法héfǎ · lawful法院fǎyuàn · court of law法人fǎrén · legal entity非法fēifǎ · illegal

More words: Everyday Verbs

扫sǎo · to sweep搬家bānjiā · to move house关机guānjī · to turn off (a device)开机kāijī · to switch on (a device)管guǎn · to manage活huó · to live定dìng · to decide按àn · to press

FAQs

无法 (wúfǎ) means “to be unable to” or “cannot”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 4 word.
Say it wúfǎ: wú with a 2nd tone, then fǎ with a 3rd 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, 无法 is written 無法. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type wufa with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 无法 from the suggestions. Typing wufa into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
无法 is an HSK 3.0 Level 4 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 6 word list. It is not on the older 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.