句
Chinese character display

Reading preferences

Settings

Appearance

System follows your device and updates automatically.

Chinese font

Choose the typeface used for Chinese sentences in study and deck views.

All three fonts are bundled with Chinese Sentences, so your choice works offline.

Data & backup

Export reviews, lists, mined sentences, source context, and preferences. Importing replaces the current local data on this device.

Back to grammar

B2 · Grammar reference

Expressing "if it were not for" with "yaobushi"

要不是 (yàobushì) is almost the same as "如果不是⋯⋯ ", and it may followed by "的话," meaning "if it were not for..." or "without...."

Structure

要不是 ⋯⋯(的话),⋯⋯

Keywords
要不是
Used for
Indicating conditions · Expressing possibility
Classification
Sentence Patterns

Examples (10)

要不是你,我会迷路。

要不是她帮忙,我们不可能这么快找到这个地方。

要不是你说你想吃,我不会做这个菜的。

要不是因为他是你朋友,我是不会帮他的。

要不是我有急事,我会陪你去看电影的。

要不是你这么忙,我们早就见面了。

要不是你刚才说错话,他是不会生气的。

要不是你们迟到的话,我们早就到了。

要不是妈妈发现了的话,还可以在我家聚会。

要不是堵车的话,我现在已经到上海了。

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