不到 (búdào) — Less than in Mandarin

bú​dào
“Less than”

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#573 most common word

Pinyin colour key: tone 1 (high flat), tone 2 (rising), tone 3 (dipping), tone 4 (falling), neutral.

Tone breakdown

不到 is pronounced búdào. Tap any syllable’s row to hear the whole word.

bú
second tone (rising, ˊ)
dào
fourth tone (sharp falling, ˋ)

In a sentence

wǒ búdào èrshíwǔ suì.

I am less than 25 years old.

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Frequently asked questions

What does 不到 mean?+

不到 (búdào) means "Less than" in Mandarin Chinese.

How do you pronounce 不到?+

不到 is pronounced búdào. It uses the tone 2 (rising), then the tone 4 (falling). Tap the character on this page to hear native audio.

How common is 不到 in Mandarin?+

不到 is the #573 most frequent word in spoken Mandarin, so it is one of the first words worth learning.

Words at a similar frequency

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Browse more on the Mandarin vocabulary hub, or read how to learn Mandarin tones.