Discussion of 由不得

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由得 and 不由得 (=由不得) are antonyms.

由得 means "can be up to (someone's decision), can be someone's say". The opposite of 由得 is 不由得 or 由不得 - not be up to somebody

Note that 不由得 and 由不得 have another meaning, which is "cannot help but...". 不得不 means "have to, have no choice or option but to"

The difference here is that when 不由得 and 由不得 means "cannot help but...", it's referring to someone's feeling or compulsion, therefore the subject is usually a person. 不得不, on the other hand, is a cognitive decision made based on objective conditions, and circumstances:

Compare these two examples:

- 不由得 here refers to the compulsion to laugh:
E.g. 看着他的滑稽模样，我不由得大笑起来。Seeing his funny appearance, I couldn't help laughing.
- 不得不 is followed by a decision that is made based on the situation that the task has to be completed but is yet to be:
E.g. 任务还没完成，所以周末我们不得不加班。 The task is not completed, so on the weekend we will have to work extra hours.

lisaC

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