As long as he does his homework, he can play games.
Sentence #9963302 from Tatoeba · translation adapted
How 只要 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.
只zhǐonly; merely; just
口mouth · kǒu
八eight · bā
Memory aidA mouth 口 above two strokes 八. It is the simplified form of both 隻 (one bird) and 衹 (only).
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 只要
只 5 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.
Stroke order chart for 只要 (zhǐyào). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
只要 (zhǐyào) means “if only” or “so long as”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it zhǐyào: zhǐ with a 3rd 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. 只要 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhiyao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 只要 from the suggestions. Typing zhiyao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
只要 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.
Turn words into conversations
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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.
只zhǐ3rd tone, dipping
要yào4th tone, falling
