句子
Chinese character display
Back to grammar

B1 · Grammar reference · ASGDFQP7

Expressing "how about" with "yaobu"

Colloquially, 要不 (yàobù) can be used for making suggestions, like how we use "how about" in English.

Structure

Reason / Situation ,要不 + Suggestion

要不 + Suggestion ,Reason / Situation

Keywords
要不 · 吧 · otherwise · either · or · how about
Used for
Giving alternatives · Indicating cause and effect
Classification
Conjunctions · HSK5

Examples (10)

大家都有点累了,要不休息一会儿吧。

要不我们一起去吧,一个人去没意思。

这个星期我比较忙,要不下个星期见?

要不我们换个地方吧,这里太吵了。

要不你先走吧,我还没做完。

下雨了,要不明天去吧。

这么远,要不我开车送你去?

你先吃吧,要不然饭就凉了。

打车吧,要不会迟到的。

快回家吧,要不你爸妈会担心的。

Further resources

Learn from another explanation

No editorial pick yet for this exact pattern.

Editorial picks are checked for a close topic match. Search results and external content belong to their publishers and may change.

Full explanation at AllSet Learning

Summary, structure, classification, and adapted sentence examples draw from the AllSet Learning Chinese Grammar Wiki under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0; changes were made. This noncommercial reference is based on an October 2023 snapshot.

Related points