A Character a Day 要

manuscript: 

大家早上好，goodmorning everyone.

In this video, we are going to learn this character 要.

The basic meaning of 要 is to want or need. Just like in English, we say,” I want something”, we can say, “ 我要something”

For example:

我要茶。

wǒ yào chá.    I want tea.

我要牛排。

wǒ yào niú pái .   I want steak.

我要炒饭。

wǒ yào chǎo fàn . I want fried rice.

This sentence structure is very useful when you want to buy something or order food when you are eating out.

In English, we also say, “ I want to do something.”  Similarly, we can say ,” 我要do something.”

我要看电影。

wǒ yào kàn diàn yǐng .   I want to  see a movie.

我要买书。

wǒ yào mǎi shū .      I want to buy some books.

我要学中文。

wǒ yào xué zhōng wén . I want to learn Chinese.

Let’s wrap it up. Two main sentence patterns:

我要  something.

我要 to do something.