---
title: "adjective + 得要命/得要死/得不行 in Chinese Grammar: Extremely …, With Examples"
description: "adjective + 得要命/得要死/得不行: extremely …; … to death. Adjective + 得要命/得要死/得不行: extremely so (colloquial, “… to death”). 2 real lines from stories, each word explained."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/de-yaoming"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[Chinese grammar](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar)

# adjective + 得要命/得要死/得不行

Extremely …; … to death

Adjective + 得要命/得要死/得不行: extremely so (colloquial, “… to death”).

## In stories

小远的脸**热得不行**，他真想马上跑回楼上去。

[楼下（下） · Downstairs (part 2)](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/grandmas-notebook-downstairs-part-2#library-word-524-528) HSK 3

我原本以为会**枯燥得要命**：唱词听不懂，故事看不懂，在剧场里一坐就是两个小时，肯定会睡着。

[京剧是什么？ · What is Peking opera?](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/what-is-peking-opera#library-word-23-28) HSK 6

[Read 楼下（下）](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/grandmas-notebook-downstairs-part-2#library-word-524-528)

## More patterns

- [verb + 得 + complement says how something is done (how well, how much, with what result)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-de-c)
- [verb + 不/得 + result (potential) cannot / can (manage to) …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-bu-c)
- [再也 + 不/没 never again; not any more](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/zaiye-bu)
- [如果/要是…就… if …, then …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/ruguo-jiu)
- [谁 + 也/都 + (V不C) no one / nothing: …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/shei-ye-neg-v)
- [verb + 不了/得了 cannot …; can …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-bu-liao)

## What does adjective + 得要命/得要死/得不行 mean in Chinese?

Extremely …; … to death. Adjective + 得要命/得要死/得不行: extremely so (colloquial, “… to death”).

## How common is adjective + 得要命/得要死/得不行?

It comes up in 2 readings of the 392 stories and articles in our free Library.

## Does it correct my mistakes?

No. It shows which patterns a text uses and what each one does; it doesn’t mark errors. Paste a sentence you wrote to see whether it uses the pattern you meant.

## More free tools

- [Chinese dictionary](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-dictionary)
- [Measure words](https://mandarinthewild.com/measure-words)
- [How hard is this text?](https://mandarinthewild.com/text-level)
- [Free Chinese stories](https://mandarinthewild.com/library)

Patterns found by our own parser; lines from our free Library.