算了grammar point · tier 1 · 算了 (drop it; let it go; forget it)
· suànle
Closes a matter the speaker chooses to stop pursuing: drop it, forget it, never mind.
字源 FORM what the parts do
算 lays bamboo rods (竹) over an implement worked in both hands (具) and reckons the count. 了 marks it settled, done. Together: the reckoning is closed, nothing more to add up.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
Two hands stop sliding the rods and push the board aside; the tally stands as it is.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
算了[，…] / 算了吧
觸 · Trigger
You decide the thing is not worth pursuing further and want to close it off.
序 · The move
1Mark the matter you are dropping (the unfinished task, the argument, the wait).Are you choosing to stop, not reporting that it ended on its own?
2Say 算了 to seal it; add 吧 to soften it toward the listener.Does 算了 stand at the front, releasing what comes after?
3Let the rest of the turn say what to do instead, if anything.Is 算了 closing the old matter, not finishing the new one?
例 · Examples
1算了drop it / forget it，這麼晚了it's this late now你先回去吧head home first，剩下的the rest我來整理I'll tidy up就可以了。
Forget it — it's this late, you head home first; I'll tidy up the rest.
界 · Boundary
不要了
不要了 refuses the object — you no longer want the thing. 算了 closes the pursuit — you stop trying, the thing stays unsettled.
沒關係 reassures the other person it caused no harm. 算了 is the speaker's own decision to give up on the matter.
✗ 算了了 → ✓ 算了 (了 is already inside the chunk; do not stack a second 了)
✗ 我算了這件事 → ✓ 這件事算了吧 (算了 closes from the front or stands alone; it is not a verb taking an object after it)
✗ 飯算了 ("the meal is done") → ✓ 飯吃完了 (算了 means give up on it, not finish it)
English "never mind" can answer a question ("never mind, I found it"); 算了 carries resignation — the speaker drops something they would rather have had settled, so it does not fit a neutral "never mind it's fine".