HSK 3.0 Band 3 list · Adverbs

就要 jiùyào “about to” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 就要 means

  1. about to
  2. will soon
  3. will
  4. shall
  5. to be going to

How to say 就要

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale就jiù4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale要yào4th tone, falling

就要 in a sentence

  1. 春天就要来了。

    Chūntiān jiùyào lái le.

    Spring is coming soon.

    Sentence #343938 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 下个月她就要结婚了。

    Xià ge yuè tā jiùyào jiéhūn le.

    She’s getting married next month.

    Sentence #3060517 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 飞机就要降落了。

    Fēijī jiùyào jiàngluò le.

    The plane is about to land.

    Sentence #6316773 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 就要 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 就 (jiù) with each of its parts in a different colour
就jiùin that case; then
  • 京capital city · jīngSound part
  • 尤especially · yóuMeaning part

尤 hints at the meaning (especially); 京 (jīng) hints at the sound. Compare it with jiù.

The character 要 (yào) with each of its parts in a different colour
要yàoto want; to need; to ask for
  • 覀cover form of 襾 · yà
  • 女woman · nǚ

Memory aidOnce drawn as a person with hands on the waist, its first meaning. That meaning moved to 腰 (yāo), and 要 became “to want”.

How to write 就要

就 12 strokes · 要 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 就要

Words with 就

就jiù · then就是jiùshì · exactly成就chéngjiù · accomplishment就近jiùjìn · nearby将就jiāngjiu · to make do迁就qiānjiù · to accommodate就业jiùyè · employment就职jiùzhí · to take office

Words with 要

不要bùyào · don’t!要yào · want快要kuàiyào · about to需要xūyào · to need要求yāoqiú · to request重要zhòngyào · important主要zhǔyào · main要是yàoshi · if只要zhǐyào · if only必要bìyào · necessary

More words: Adverbs & Degree

刚刚gānggāng · just now越来越yuèláiyuè · more and more只是zhǐshì · only总zǒng · always看来kànlái · it seems不用búyòng · no need to共gòng · altogether实际上shíjìshàng · in fact

FAQs

就要 (jiùyào) means “about to” or “will soon”. It is on our HSK 3.0 Band 3 word list.
Say it jiùyào: jiù with a 4th tone, then yào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 就要 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jiuyao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 就要 from the suggestions. Typing jiuyao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
就要 is not listed as a separate word in the official 2021 HSK 3.0 syllabus, but it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 3 word list. It is not on the older 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.