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B1 · Grammar reference

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。

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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.

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