无能为力

wú néng wéi lì

powerless to help

Character by character

无wú
no

能néng
ability

为wéi
exert

力lì
strength

这件事我实在无能为力。

There's really nothing I can do about this.

Tone: neutral.

为 is wéi; a polite way to say you can't help.

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