HSK 4 · Function Words

是否 shìfǒu “whether (or not)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 是否 means

  1. whether (or not)
  2. if
  3. is or isn’t

How to say 是否

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale是shì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale否fǒu3rd tone, dipping

是否 in a sentence

  1. 我想知道明天是否会下雨。

    Wǒ xiǎng zhīdao míngtiān shìfǒu huì xiàyǔ.

    I wonder if it will rain tomorrow.

    Sentence #333812 from Tatoeba

  2. 他问我是否很忙。

    Tā wèn wǒ shìfǒu hěn máng.

    He asked me if I was busy.

    Sentence #1878387 from Tatoeba

  3. 我不知道我是否有时间做。

    Wǒ bù zhīdao wǒ shìfǒu yǒu shíjiān zuò.

    I don’t know if I have time to do it.

    Sentence #334403 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 是否 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 是 (shì) with each of its parts in a different colour
是shìto be
  • 日sun · rì
  • 疋roll of cloth · pǐ
The character 否 (fǒu) with each of its parts in a different colour
否fǒuto negate
  • 不no · bùMeaning part
  • 口mouth · kǒuSound part

不 hints at the meaning (no); 口 (kǒu) hints at the sound. Compare it with fǒu.

How to write 是否

是 9 strokes · 否 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 是否

Words with 是

是shì · to be但是dànshì · but总是zǒngshì · always还是háishi · or只是zhǐshì · only可是kěshì · but要是yàoshi · if于是yúshì · thereupon就是jiùshì · exactly是非shìfēi · right and wrong

Words with 否

否则fǒuzé · otherwise否定fǒudìng · to negate否认fǒurèn · to declare to be untrue否决fǒujué · to veto

More words: Particles & Connectors

仍然réngrán · still稍微shāowēi · a little bit甚至shènzhì · even十分shífēn · very实在shízài · really首先shǒuxiān · first (of all)顺便shùnbiàn · conveniently顺序shùnxù · sequence

FAQs

是否 (shìfǒu) means “whether (or not)” or “if”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it shìfǒu: shì with a 4th tone, then fǒu with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 是否 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shifou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 是否 from the suggestions. Typing shifou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
是否 is an HSK 4 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.