Writing
只好 (zhǐ hǎo) — how to say "have to" in Chinese
只好
Have to, have no choice but to
modal adverb
How to use it
Goes before the verb and shows the speaker's attitude.
我只好走路回家。
wǒ zhǐ hǎo zǒu lù huí jiā
I had to walk home.
Character composition
只
only
好
good
Radicals / Keys
口
Mouth
#30 · kǒu · 3 strokes
女
Woman
#38 · nǚ · 3 strokes
Synonyms
Collocations
只好放弃
zhǐhǎo fàngqì
had to give up
只好等待
zhǐhǎo děngdài
can only wait
只好同意
zhǐhǎo tóngyì
had to agree
Examples
公交车已经开走了，下一班还要等半个小时，我们只好走路去火车站。
The bus has already left, and the next one won't come for another half an hour, so we have no choice but to walk to the train station.
只好这样。
Have to do it this way.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say "have to" in Chinese?
"have to" in Chinese is 只好 (zhǐ hǎo).
只好 meaning in english'
只好 (zhǐ hǎo) means "Have to, have no choice but to".
How is 只好 pronounced?
It is pronounced zhǐ hǎo (written as zhi hao, zhihao). You can listen to the pronunciation on this page.
How do you write "have to" in Chinese characters?
It is written 只好: 只 has 5 strokes, 好 has 6 strokes. The Writing section above animates the stroke order of each character and lets you trace it.
What HSK level is 只好?
只好 belongs to the HSK 4 vocabulary list.
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