HSK 4 · Function Words

要是 yàoshi “if” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 要是 means

  1. if
  2. (coll.) if

How to say 要是

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale要yào4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own是shineutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

要是 in a sentence

  1. 我要是知道就告诉你了。

    Wǒ yàoshi zhīdao jiù gàosu nǐ le.

    If I knew that, I’d tell you.

    Sentence #2411934 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 要是你不喜欢，就别吃。

    Yàoshi nǐ bù xǐhuan, jiù bié chī.

    If you don’t like it, don’t eat it.

    Sentence #2737409 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 要是能去日本就好了。

    Yàoshi néng qù Rìběn jiù hǎo le.

    I wish I could go to Japan.

    Sentence #1867031 from Tatoeba

How 要是 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”.

The character 是 (shì) with each of its parts in a different colour
是shìto belight in 要是
  • 日sun · rì
  • 疋roll of cloth · pǐ

How to write 要是

要 9 strokes · 是 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 要是

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就要jiùyào · about to只要zhǐyào · if only必要bìyào · necessary

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是否shìfǒu · whether (or not)于是yúshì · thereupon就是jiùshì · exactly是非shìfēi · right and wrong

More words: Particles & Connectors

往往wǎngwǎng · usually无论wúlùn · no matter what or how许多xǔduō · many呀ya · (particle equivalent to 啊 after a vowel也许yěxǔ · perhaps页yè · page一切yíqiè · everything以yǐ · with

FAQs

要是 (yàoshi) means “if” or “(coll.) if”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it yàoshi: yào with a 4th tone, then shi with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 要是 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yaoshi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 要是 from the suggestions. Typing yaoshi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
要是 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.