HSK 4 · Function Words

也许 yěxǔ “perhaps” in Chinese

Said as yéxǔ

Traditional 也許

What 也许 means

  1. perhaps
  2. maybe

How to say 也许

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale也yě3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale许xǔ3rd tone, dipping

Said as yéxǔ. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

也许 in a sentence

  1. 晚上也许会下雪。

    Wǎnshang yěxǔ huì xiàxuě.

    It might snow tonight.

    Sentence #4960567 from Tatoeba

  2. 也许下一次吧。

    Yěxǔ xià yí cì ba.

    Maybe next time.

    Sentence #710745 from Tatoeba

  3. 谢谢。也许我们会回来的。

    Xièxie. Yěxǔ wǒmen huì huílai de.

    Thanks. Maybe we’ll come back.

    Sentence #1416163 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 也许 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 也 (yě) drawn as one shape
也yěalso; too; as well; either

也 is a single shape of 3 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 许 (xǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
许xǔto allow
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 午part of the characterSound part

How to write 也许

也 3 strokes · 许 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 也许

Words with 也

也yě · also

Words with 许

允许yǔnxǔ · to permit许多xǔduō · many或许huòxǔ · perhaps许可xǔkě · to permit

More words: Particles & Connectors

无论wúlùn · no matter what or how许多xǔduō · many呀ya · (particle equivalent to 啊 after a vowel要是yàoshi · if页yè · page一切yíqiè · everything以yǐ · with因此yīncǐ · thus

FAQs

也许 (yěxǔ) means “perhaps” or “maybe”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it yěxǔ: yě with a 3rd tone, then xǔ with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like yéxǔ. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 也许 is written 也許. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yexu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 也许 from the suggestions. Typing yexu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
也许 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.