Chinese Grammar: Expressing "necessary" and "unavoidable" with 少不了

Something that you just cannot do without it? That’s absolutely necessary? Just like if you guys want to learn fluent Chinese, you can’t make it happen without Ninchanese! Cool, there’s, of course, a colloquial expression you need to know about: 少不了. Let’s see how to express “unavoidable” and “necessary” in Chinese with 少不了

Show what can’t be avoided with 少不了

少不了 is made up of familiar characters: 少, of “few” and the iconic duo 不了 of “unable to”, “without end” or "non-stop". This duo always indicates the negative ability of something.

少不了 is used to indicate the conditions absolutely required, what can’t be done without. Its presence indicates something won’t happen without another thing happening. In that sense, 少不了 conveys the notion that something is unavoidable.

Usually, you’ll want to include a certain context before 少不了 and describe the result, that’s to say what’s unavoidable, right after it.

Structure

[A + 少不了 + B]
[Context + 少不了 + result]

Examples

过 生日 少不了 吃 蛋糕。
It can’t be avoided to eat a birthday cake on your birthday.

学 中文 少不了 练习 语法。
You cannot study Chinese without practicing grammar.

下雨 少不了 打伞。
It’s unavoidable to hold up an umbrella when it is raining.

过年 少不了 吃 饺子。
When celebrating the new year, eating dumplings can’t be avoided.

Share consequences with 少不了

少不了 can also be used to express consequences, or what resulted from something else. It’s quite useful, you’ll see, to say “due to A, B happened”. Due to all the catnip Nincha ate, 少不了, he fell asleep and missed Yocha’s Taiqi class.

Structure

[A + 少不了 + (又) + B]

Usually, in this situation, the speaker uses their own experience to make a comment or pass judgement. 少不了 is often followed by 又 to stress that the situation is not an accident, it has or could have happened a lot of times.

Examples

看 他 那么 伤心，少不了 是 因为 考试 没 考 好。
Seeing how sad he looks, he must not have done well on his test.

这些 坏事 少不了 又 是 他 做 的。
It must be him who does such terrible things.

这么 晚 她 还 不 回家， 少不了 又 去 别人 家 玩儿 了 。
It’s this late and she still isn't back home, she must have gone to someone else's house again to hang out.

你 那么 忙，少不了 又 没 时间 陪 我 了。
You are so busy, it’s unavoidable you don’t have time to keep me company.

Ready to train using 少不了？

See all our other Chinese grammar lessons.

Download the Chinese grammar app on Android for clear, easy to understand Chinese grammar lessons on the go: