Chinese phrase
很抱歉，帮不了你 hěn bào qiàn bāng bù liǎo nǐ
Meaning
I'm sorry I can't help you
When to use it
A polite way to say that help cannot be given. It softens a refusal and often comes before a brief reason.
Example dialogue
你能帮我把这个报告改一下吗？ nǐ néng bāng wǒ bǎ zhè ge bào gào gǎi yí xià ma
Could you help me revise this report?
很抱歉，帮不了你，我今天有三个会议，没法抽出时间。 hěn bào qiàn bāng bù liǎo nǐ wǒ jīn tiān yǒu sān gè huì yì méi fǎ chōu chū shí jiān
I'm sorry, I can't help you because I have three meetings today and can't make time.