不就得了- its use

[Scoobyqueen]

I understand the above expresses disapproval with an impatient tone. Could it be translated as „enough is enough”. Any other typical contexts in which to use the expression?

Cheers

[Guoke]

I understand the above expresses disapproval with an impatient tone. Could it be translated as „enough is enough”.

It seems to be the opposite.

'不就得了' is just an emphatic form of the expression '就可以了'.

It's used to emphasize your statement when you're making a strong suggestion.

Examples:

把东西还给人家不就得了？ （Note that a question mark is used.)

把东西还给人家就可以了。 (This is just a statement.)

Other examples that use negative forms for emphasis:

你不是很了解他的为人吗？

你不知道我们在忙吗？

你没看见我在工作吗？

他很听你的话，不是吗？

把房子卖掉，问题不就解决了？

[semantic nuance]

scoobyqueen, 雖然這個用法通常帶有不耐煩的意味, 但是也不一定都只是用在不耐煩的情況下. "....不就得了." 指的應該是一件事或一個動作只要簡單地去做就可以完成, 通常做的人不了解其中的道理或不想那樣做, 於是把事情簡單複雜化, 所以才會有這句詞語的使用. 跟這句話相似的詞語還有:....不就行了/....不就結了/.....不就成了.

例1: 你打個電話拒絕他不就得了, 幹什麼那麼傷腦筋啊?

例2: 為什麼你這數學演算這麼長啊? 你只要把這個加A那個個減B不就行了. 答案就算出來了啊 .

例3: 你煩不煩啊! 你不要理他不就結了. 難道他叫你去死你就去死啊!

以上例句的不就得了/成了/結了/行了都可以互用.

至於, enough is enough 是有不耐煩的意味, 應該指 : "夠了! 夠了! 是有完沒完啊", 它等不等於"....不就得了"我不知道, 但是通常你要用'....不就得了'時, 前面都會提供一個辦法或解決之後才接....不就得了.

希望你懂了!

[KelvinHu]

I'd like to explain but I dont know what 'enough is enough' means. If it means 'no more BS' then its not what 不就得了 means.

Actually you are close. 不就得了 is usually used in a impatient tone. When one is hensitating about doing one thing, the other would use it to urging or persuading or pushing him after providing some 'simple' sollutions.

得 means get it, achievment. 行 is a relative to it, which means OK. 不就行了 also has the same meaning of 不就得了。As well as 不就成了。 成 means success. The difference is that 不就得了 and 不就成了 means 'then you get it done'. 不就行了 means 'then you get it in the right way'. So the former sounds a little more confident then the later.( confident and ambitious)

All of the above three should be used on the premise of the other is unknow about the sollution and seeking it(orally ask or not). Otherwise you will be seen as showing off. Unless you do want to show off.

PS: the above explanation are based on meaning. I am messed with verb. noun. adj. and such. Are you concidering grammer when you speak your mother tongue?

[hidden12345]

Semantic Nuance's explanation is pretty clear; I don't think the point needs to be rehashed too severely (ie. with 楼上‘s "得 means achievement", and other general Chinglish.)

My girlfriend was born in and has lived in Beijing all her life. When we get into an argument, and she thinks I'm over complicating things, she starts with the "...不就行了”

Again, Semantic Nuance's post is spot-on: It's basically a much more impatient, frustrated version of ....就可以了, where the .... refers to what could be done much simpler, as the speaker is pointing out, but for some reason 对方 is not "getting" it.

[Hanlink]

不就得了 is quite a tricky one to translate, since it is not a simple one-for-one translation. In one of the examples given, 把东西还给人家不就得了?, one would need to say something in English like: "Couldn't you just give the stuff back to them?", i.e. the 'just' being the emphatic 不就得了. One could also say: "Wouldn't it be better to just give the stuff...? Here, with the 'better' and the 'just', you give an element of (a) the frustration, and (B) the idea of choice, which comes with using 不就得了 or a 不就行了.

[anonymoose]

I think you can translate 不就得了 as 'and be done with it'

eg. 把东西还给人家不就得了？ Can't you just give it back to him and be done with it?

[Guoke]

I personally find it rather offensive when people ridicule non-native speakers' English and call it Chinglish, Singlish, Manglish or something like that.

So you speak better or native English. Big deal!

I don't speak good English and I make grammatical mistakes, but I don't give a damn!

[roddy]

Agreed, the site needs Chinese people posting in English, and complaining about 'Chinglish' when someone's trying to be helpful isn't appropriate.

[randall_flagg]

I agree with Roddy!

I think adding a 吧 to the expression is very common: 不就得了吧

[Guoke]

'得了吧' and '不就得了吗' are common but '不就得了吧‘ doesn't sound right.

[hidden12345]

得了吧 means "no" or like a sarcastic "pssh...as if"

[randall_flagg]

Mmh, I seem to remember being told 什么什么不就得了吧？ several times when I was being 人性。 Could be wrong though. Although, google and baidu seem to turn a few hits with this construction.

Example: Buying pants which are ridiculously too long. The sales person tells me: "Cut 'em off 不就得了吧？"

But my memory could be spotty...

[imron]

several times when I was being 人性

Or possibly even when you were being 任性。

[Guoke]

It may not be easy for a foreigner to distinguish between '吗' and '吧', especially when they both sound so similar and are both '轻声'.

[carnation]

Generally 不就得了can not add 吧.

不就得了吗 is strong rhetorical question with the meaning of order.

But 不就得了吧 is a uncertainly tone.

[Baoman]

For those who haven't heard this expression spoken, can someone please write it in pinyin (with tonemarks)? Because 得 can have several pronunciations as well as 了.

[imron]

bù jiù dé le

[Guoke]

Shouldn't it be bú jiù dé le?

[imron]

No. In pinyin, tone sandhi is not shown. So, even though it is pronounced in second tone it is still written as fourth tone. It is up to the reader to realise the tone sandhi and make the appropriate changes.