Wanting and "going to" with 要

Structure 要 + noun / 要 + verb

要 (yào) is more concrete and firm than 想. With a noun it means "to want (to have)": 我要一杯茶. With a verb it means "to want to do" or "to be going to / about to": 我要去 ("I’m going to go"). Be careful with the negative: "not want to do" is usually 不想; 不要 + verb is closer to "don’t do it".

Examples

我wǒ要yào一yī杯bēi咖kā啡fēi。
I want a coffee.
我wǒ们men要yào去qù学xué校xiào。
We’re going to school.
你nǐ要yào不bù要yào茶chá？
Do you want some tea?

This point and the other 370, with audio on every example, inside Wanyu.

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