Chinese word dictionary

要不是

yàobúshì · if it were not for; but for

Practice word

Word information

Simplified要不是

Traditional要不是

Pinyinyàobúshì

Part of speech连

HSK 3.05

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

要yào

essential, necessary; to ask for; to coerce; to demand

不bù

not; no

是shì

to be; yes

How to learn 要不是

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

不bù

no; not so; (bound form) not; un-

不客气búkèqi

you're welcome; don't mention it; impolite; rude; blunt

不要búyào

don't!; must not

对不起duìbuqǐ

I'm sorry; excuse me; I beg your pardon; to let (sb) down; to disappoint

是shì

to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4]

要yào

to want; to need; to ask for; will; shall; about to; need to; should; if (same as 要是[yao4 shi5]); (bound form) important