Dictionary › 要不

要不

yào bù

Old HSK 5 HSK 3.0 level 5 2-character word

要不 (yào bù) means "otherwise, or else". It is an HSK 3.0 level 5 word, and was HSK 5 in the old six-level list.

What 要不 means

1. otherwise
2. or else
3. how about...?
4. either... (or...)

The characters in 要不

• 要yàoto want; to need; to ask for; will; shall; about to; need to; should
• 不bùno; not so; (bound form) not; un-

Example sentences

• 他要不行了。
  He's on his last legs.

Words starting with 要不

• 要不然yào bù ránotherwise; or else; or
• 要不是yào bu shìif it were not for; but for
• 要不得yào bu deintolerable; unacceptable

Where 要不 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of Conditional & Hedging Words (HSK 5), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 5 word, with the rest of its level.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read yào bù correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.