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How to say “don’t do something” in Chinese with 不要 (búyào)

不要 (búyào) + Verb

不要 (bù yào) — negative commands

HSK 2Verb phrases

Rule structure

不要 (búyào) is a formal and strong way to form negative commands, meaning “do not.” It is more emphatic than 别 (bié) and often used in written warnings or serious instructions. In real pronunciation, 不 (bù) changes to bú before the fourth-tone 要 (yào), so this row uses 不要 (búyào).

Examples

不要说话！

Búyào shuōhuà!

Do not talk!

不要吃糖。

Bùyào chītáng.

Do not eat candy

不要在这里吃饭。

Búyào zài zhèlǐ chīfàn.

Do not eat here.

Practice

Build the sentence

Drag the characters to put them in the correct order

Characters

Words from this rule

不要

bú yào

Don't want; don't

说话

shuō huà

To speak, to talk, to tell

吃

chī

To eat

糖

táng

Sugar, candy

在

zài

To be at/in, to exist

这里

zhèlǐ

Here

饭

fàn

Meal, food; cooked rice

跑

pǎo

To run

Frequently asked questions

How do you say “negative commands” in Chinese with 不要?

Use the structure: 不要 (búyào) + Verb. For example: 不要说话！ — “Do not talk!”.

What is an example sentence with this grammar rule?

不要说话！ — “Do not talk!”.

Which HSK level includes this grammar rule?

This grammar rule is part of HSK 2.

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More HSK 2 grammar rules

到 — direction with “to go to”

到 (dào) + Place + 去 (qù)

一下 — verbing briefly

Verb + 一下 (yíxià)

给 — verb + give to someone

Subj. + Verb + 给 (gěi) + Recipient + Obj.

在 — location after verbs

Verb + 在 (zài) + Place

教你 — double object verbs

Subj. + Verb + Indirect Obj. + Direct Obj.

去 — actions in a row

(Verb Phrase 1) + (Verb Phrase 2)

看看 — verb reduplication, “take a look”

Verb + Verb

给 — giving to someone

Subj. + 给 (gěi) + Target + Verb + Obj.