Expressing "be going to" with "yao"

Revision as of 07:12, 20 February 2014 by WikiSysop (talk | contribs)

The auxiliary verb 要 (yào) has a lot of meanings, and here we'll tackle the "be going to" meaning. This can be confusing at first, dealing with the multiple meanings of (yào), but stick with it!

Structure

The idea behind this usage of 要 (yào) is that someone is "planning to" or "going to" or "preparing to" do something. It's not that they just want to, or have to, it's that they fully expect to do it. It's in their plan.

Subject + 要 + Verb

Examples

  • 去 吃饭,你 去 吗?
  • 星期天 我 去 北京。
  • 学 中文。
  • 去 中国 工作。
  • 给 妈妈 电话。
  • 去 洗手间。
  • 不好意思,我 出去 一 下。
  • 买 一 个 iPhone。
  • 做 咖啡,你 喝 吗?
  • 下班 以后 你 去 哪里?

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

Dictionaries