要 (yào) is one of the most common words in Chinese, and it has a versatile range
of uses. In this article, we’ll cover five common uses of 要 in Chinese grammar:
“want”, “need”, “should”, for commands and for future tense.
要 meaning “want”
The dictionary definitions for 要 always include “want” in English. 要 is the most
direct and simple way of expressing a desire in Chinese. For example:
Notice how in the first sentence, 要 is the main verb, whereas in the last two
sentences, 要 is an auxiliary verb.
As in English, expressing “want” in this way can be quite direct and abrupt, so
be careful with it.
See also: the difference between 想, 要 and 想要
要 meaning “need”
In much the same way as it can be used to express “want”, 要 can also express
“need”. Have a look at these examples:
In the above sentences, 要 could be swapped with 需要 (xūyào) without a great deal
of difference.
要 meaning “should”
要 can often be somewhat ambiguous as to whether it expresses “need” or “should”.
Have a look at the example sentences below; you could interpret them as meaning
“need” or “should” in English, but all of them use 要 in Chinese.
Often, 需要 is used to unambiguously express “need”. A lot of the time, though,
the two concepts are not fully distinguished in Chinese sentences.
要 for commands
要 is often used to form imperative sentences in Chinese. That is, sentences that
give commands. 要 is pretty much only used to form negative commands.
For example, 要 is the easiest way to express “don’t”:
什么都不要说
shénme dōu búyào shuō
Don't say anything.
Note that when 不 comes before 要, it becomes second tone due to tone change
rules.
You may know that the particle 了 (le)
can be used to indicate a change of state. If you combine this with 不要, you get
commands that express “stop”.
Here are some examples:
You can also replace 不要 with 别 in most situations. A couple of examples:
These kinds of commands might also be expressed in English with “any more” or
“again”, for example:
When 了 is used in this way, it often corresponds with “any more” in English.
要 for future tense
Finally, 要 can be used to express future tense. This is similar to many European
languages that express future actions with words like “want” or “will”. You
might say that technically an intent or desire is being expressed, but everyone
understands it as a future action.
Some examples:
The example sentences in this article will give you a good foundation for
understanding 要 in all of its contexts (you could use them for sentence
mining). Just remember that the
best approach to Chinese grammar is to develop your general sense for the
language rather than trying to memorise specific rules.