How to say "to want" in Chinese

要
yàoto wantPart of speech: Verbs

"to want" in Chinese is 要 — pronounced yào.

In a sentence

  • 你好!你要吃什么?Nǐ hǎo! Nǐ yào chī shénme?Hello! What would you like to eat?
  • 好的!还要别的吗?Hǎo de! Hái yào biéde ma?All right! Anything else?
  • 你好!你要买什么?Nǐ hǎo! Nǐ yào mǎi shénme?Hello! What would you like to buy?

Sentence patterns that use it

  • 我要买___。I want to buy ___.
  • 我要吃___。I want to eat ___.
  • 我要去___。I want to go to ___.
  • 我感冒了。I have a cold.
  • 我要寄___。I want to send ___.
  • 我要 ___。I want ___
48 sentence patterns ›

Words that share a character

Hear the tones, then say it back

Reading a word is the easy half. In HanQuest you meet 要 inside a quest — spoken by a villager, then checked against your own voice.

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