三言两语

sān yán liǎng yǔ

in a few words

Character by character

三sān
three

言yán
words

两liǎng
two

语yǔ
phrases

这件事三言两语说不清楚。

I can’t explain this in a few words.

Tone: neutral.

Often with 说不清 or 讲不完, but also positive: 三言两语就把他说服了.

Learn it in context

This idiom and thousands more are in Learn Chinese with Bao, with audio, pinyin and drills that make them stick.