要
不
是

If it were not for in Chinese: 要不是 (yào bu shì)

yào bu shì

if it were not for

HSK 3.0 Levels 7-91 example sentence

Definitions

  1. 1if it were not for
  2. 2but for

Stroke order

Watch how to write 要不是 stroke by stroke.

要
不
是

Zhuyin

This word’s pronunciation in Bopomofo.

Learn how to read Zhuyin

ㄧㄠˋ

yào

ㄧ/ iㄠ/ aoˋ/ fourth tone

˙ㄅㄨ

bu

˙/ neutral toneㄅ/ bㄨ/ u

ㄕˋ

shì

ㄕ/ shˋ/ fourth tone

Example sentences

See 要不是 used in real sentences with pinyin and English translations.

  • 要不是你帮忙，我早就放弃了。

    yào bú shì nǐ bāng máng， wǒ zǎo jiù fàng qì le。

    If it weren't for your help, I would have given up long ago.

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Related words

不

bù

no

是

shì

to be (followed by substantives only)

要

yào

to want

但是

dàn shì

but

还是

hái shi

still (as before)

需要

xū yào

to need

要求

yāo qiú

to request

重要

zhòng yào

important

主要

zhǔ yào

main

总是

zǒng shì

always

不但

bù dàn

not only (... but also ...)

不管

bù guǎn

not to be concerned

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Levels 7-9 vocabulary list

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