Word

要不然 (yào bù rán) — Chinese word meaning

HSK 5

要不然 (yào bù rán) is a Chinese word: otherwise. This page shows its pinyin, translation, example sentences, character breakdown, decomposition, and HSK level.

Meaning of 要不然

连 lián conjunction

otherwise

快点走吧,要不然会迟到的。

kuài diǎn zǒu ba yào bù rán huì chí dào de

Hurry up, otherwise we'll be late.

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Word breakdown

要 yào — introduces a conditional sense, 'if one needs/wants'

不 bù — negation, 'not'

然 rán — so, thus; completes 'if not so' meaning

Structure & writing
1 要 yào — important; significant
Xpinyin
要 is a component in 1 characters

consists of

1.2 女 nǚ — female (opposite of 男)
女 is a component in 54 characters
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Stroke order

2 不 bù — not; no (negation before verbs, adjectives, or adverbs)
不 is a component in 8 characters

不 is an atomic character — it does not decompose further.

Stroke order

3 然 rán — (lit.) correct; right
然 is a component in 1 characters

consists of

3.1 ⺼ — flesh/meat radical, representing body tissue or muscle
⺼ is a component in 68 characters
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Stroke order