HSK 3 · Verbs

必须 bìxū “must” in Chinese

Traditional 必須

What 必须 means

  1. must
  2. have to

How to say 必须

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale必bì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale须xū1st tone, high and level

必须 in a sentence

  1. 我必须到银行去。

    Wǒ bìxū dào yínháng qù.

    I have to go to the bank.

    Sentence #7772603 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 好了，我必须走了。

    Hǎo le, wǒ bìxū zǒu le.

    Right, I have to go now.

    Sentence #333798 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 下午我必须为旅行做准备了。

    Xiàwǔ wǒ bìxū wèi lǚxíng zuò zhǔnbèi le.

    This afternoon I have to get ready for the trip.

    Sentence #1397121 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 必须 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 必 (bì) with each of its parts in a different colour
必bìcertainly
  • 心heart · xīn
  • 丿slash · piě
The character 须 (xū) with each of its parts in a different colour
须xūmust
  • 彡bristle · shān
  • 页page · xié

How to write 必须

必 5 strokes · 须 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

必须 (bìxū) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 必须 (bìxū). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 必须

Words with 必

必要bìyào · necessary必然bìrán · inevitable何必hébì · there is no need未必wèibì · not necessarily势必shìbì · bound to务必wùbì · must

Words with 须

胡须húxū · beard须知xūzhī · notice

More words: Thinking & Talking

担心dānxīn · to worry放心fàngxīn · relax复习fùxí · revise感兴趣gǎn xìngqù · be interested in注重zhùzhòng · to emphasise走漏zǒulòu · to leak (information)琢磨zuómo · to ponder做主zuòzhǔ · to make the decision

FAQs

必须 (bìxū) means “must” or “have to”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it bìxū: bì with a 4th tone, then xū with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 必须 is written 必須. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bixu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 必须 from the suggestions. Typing bixu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
必须 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.