HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Particles

快要 kuàiyào “about to” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 快要 means

  1. about to
  2. nearly
  3. nearly at the point of (doing sth)
  4. about to (do sth)

How to say 快要

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale快kuài4th 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

快要 in a sentence

  1. 我想快要下雨了。

    Wǒ xiǎng kuàiyào xiàyǔ le.

    I think it’s going to rain soon.

    Sentence #389521 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 假期快要结束了。

    Jiàqī kuàiyào jiéshù le.

    The holidays are almost over.

    Sentence #747641 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 飞机快要起飞了。

    Fēijī kuàiyào qǐfēi le.

    The plane is about to take off.

    Sentence #8883976 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 快要 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 快 (kuài) with each of its parts in a different colour
快kuàirapid
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīn
  • 夬decisive · guài

Memory aidHeart 忄 with 夬 (guài) for the sound: happy, and fast.

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 快要

快 7 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.

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

Words related to 快要

Words with 快

快kuài · fast快乐kuàilè · happy凉快liángkuai · nice and cold愉快yúkuài · cheerful痛快tòngkuài · delighted赶快gǎnkuài · quickly尽快jǐnkuài · as soon as possible爽快shuǎngkuài · frank快活kuàihuo · happy

Words with 要

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

More words: Particles & Function Words

不要bùyào · don’t!们men · plural marker for pronouns一些yīxiē · some但dàn · but那么nàme · like that那样nàyàng · that kind这么zhème · so much这样zhèyàng · this kind of

FAQs

快要 (kuàiyào) means “about to” or “nearly”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it kuàiyào: kuài 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. 快要 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kuaiyao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 快要 from the suggestions. Typing kuaiyao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
快要 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 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.