HSK 2 · Modal Verbs

要 yào “want” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 要 means

  1. want, will, need
  2. to ask for
  3. shall
  4. about to
  5. need to
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • should
  • if (same as 要是)
  • (bound form) important

How to say 要

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

要 in a sentence

  1. 你们要我带什么东西吗？

    Nǐmen yào wǒ dài shénme dōngxi ma?

    Do you want me to bring anything?

    Sentence #3168831 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我明天要去看我叔叔。

    Wǒ míngtiān yào qù kàn wǒ shūshu.

    I’m going to see my uncle tomorrow.

    Sentence #919953 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 这是你要找的书。

    Zhè shì nǐ yào zhǎo de shū.

    This is the book you’re looking for.

    Sentence #10696104 from Tatoeba

How 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 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 要

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.

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

Words related to 要

Words with 要

不要bùyào · don’t!快要kuàiyào · about to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: Modal Verbs & Connectors

别bié · don’t可以kěyǐ · can可能kěnéng · maybe为什么wèishénme · why也yě · also因为yīnwèi · because所以suǒyǐ · so再zài · again

FAQs

要 (yào) means “want, will, need” or “to ask for”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it yào: yào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 要 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 要 from the suggestions. Typing yao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
要 is an HSK 2 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.