Can / can’t afford — V 得/不起

Structure Verb + 得起 / 不起 (afford / measure up)

V + 得起 / 不起 (… deqǐ / bùqǐ) is mostly about whether you CAN AFFORD something (money or otherwise): 这么贵的车，我买不起 = "I can’t afford such an expensive car"; 房租太高，住不起 = "the rent is so high we can’t afford to live there". Some verbs take on their own meaning: 看不起 = "to look down on, despise".

Examples

这zhè么me贵guì的de车chē，我wǒ买mǎi不bù起qǐ。
I can’t afford such an expensive car.
对duì不bù起qǐ，我wǒ来lái晚wǎn了le。
Sorry, I’m late.
房fáng租zū太tài高gāo，我wǒ们men住zhù不bù起qǐ。
The rent is so high we can’t afford to live there.

Levels are indicative: they follow the standard Chinese Grammar Wiki (AllSet Learning) progression, not an official HSK 3.0 mapping. We never assign levels by eye.

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