The difference 想 (xiǎng), 要 (yào) and 想要 (xiǎng yào) in Chinese

A common question asked by Chinese learners is the difference between 想 (xiǎng), 要 (yào) and 想要 (xiǎng yào). In this post I’ll explain the main differences.

As with all my posts, the pronunciation is written in Pinyin, so if you need some help understanding what the squiggly line are above the pronunciations, check out my post where I explain Hanyu Pinyin here.

What is the difference between 想 (xiǎng), 要 (yào) and 想要 (xiǎng yào)

• 想xiǎng (xiǎng) is most often used to say “would like” but is also used to say “to think”, “to believe” or “to miss”.
• 要yào (yào) means to need or to want and is stronger than 想xiǎng (xiǎng)
• 想xiǎng要yào (xiǎng yào) also means to want or to feel like and is not as strong as saying 要yào (yào)

As a rule of thumb, if you are asking for something and are trying to be polite, say “我想 ” (wǒ xiǎng) or “我想要” ( wǒ xiǎng yào) rather than “我要”(wǒ yào).

Examples on the use of 想 (xiǎng), 要 (yào) and 想要 (xiǎng yào)

Here are some examples that contrast the use of 想xiǎng (xiǎng), 要yào (yào) and 想xiǎng要yào (xiǎng yào) when saying you want or would like something

Example 1: I would like to go to China

In this example we take the sentence “I would like to go to China” and replace “want” with 想xiǎng (xiǎng), 要yào (yào) and 想xiǎng要yào (xiǎng yào).

First here is a break down of the sample sentence:

我wǒ	<want>	去qù	中Zhōng国guó
wǒ	<want>	qù	zhōngguó
I	<want>	go	China

Note the word for “China” is 中Zhōng国guó (zhōngguó). This is worth memorising as it comes up in a lot of Chinese language examples and literally means “Middle Kingdom” – “Middle” 中zhōng (zhōng) + “Kingdom” 国guó (guó).

Here is a comparison in using 想 (xiǎng), 要 (yào) and 想要 (xiǎng yào) in this sentence:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I would like to go to China	我wǒ想xiǎng去qù中Zhōng国guó	wǒ xiǎng qù zhōngguó
I want to go to China	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào去qù中Zhōng国guó	wǒ xiǎng yào qù zhōngguó
I want/need to go to China	我wǒ要yào去qù中Zhōng国guó	wǒ yào qù zhōngguó

Example 2: I want to buy this book

In this example I take the sentence “I want to buy this book” and replace “want” with 想xiǎng (xiǎng), 要yào (yào) and 想xiǎng要yào (xiǎng yào).

First here is a break down of the sample sentence:

我wǒ	<want>	买mǎi	这zhè	本běn	书
wǒ	<want>	mǎi	zhè	běn	shū
I	<want>	buy	this	<classifier for books>	book

Here the character for book is 书shū (shū), while character 本běn (běn) preceding it is required as it is what is known as a “measure word” or “classifier” and means the equivalent of “one unit of”. This is similar to English where you’d say “bags of rice” or “logs of wood”, in Chinese there is almost always a classifier. Dropping the 本 character would be incorrect and would make it sound like you’re speaking the Chinese equivalent of of “pidgin English” – you might call this pidgin Chinese perhaps?

If you want to know more about classifiers, check out my post on Chinese Classifiers: What are they and how to use them as well as my complete list of Mandarin Chinese classifiers and measure words.

Here is a comparison in using 想xiǎng (xiǎng), 要yào (yào) and 想xiǎng要yào (xiǎng yào) in this sentence:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I would like to buy this book	我wǒ想xiǎng买mǎi这zhè本běn书shū	wǒ xiǎng mǎi zhè běn shū
I want to buy this book	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào买mǎi这zhè本běn书shū	wǒ xiǎng yāomǎi zhè běn shū
I want to/need to/will buy this book	我wǒ要yào买mǎi这zhè本běn书shū	wǒ yāomǎi zhè běn shū

Example 3: I don’t want…

In this example I take the partial sentence “I don’t want…” and replace “want” with 想xiǎng (xiǎng), 要yào (yào) and 想xiǎng要yào (xiǎng yào).

First here is a break down of the sample sentence:

我wǒ	不bù	<want>
wǒ	bù	<want>
I	do not (negative prefix)	<want>

Here the character 不bù (bù) is simply a makes the word that comes after it negative, that is the opposite. If you removed 不bù (bù), you would simply be saying “I want…”

Here is a comparison in using 想xiǎng (xiǎng), 要yào (yào) and 想xiǎng要yào (xiǎng yào) in this sentence:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I don’t want…	我wǒ不bù想xiǎng。.。.。.	wǒ bùxiǎng…
I don’t want…	我wǒ不bù想xiǎng要yào。.。.。.	wǒ bùxiǎng yào…
I don’t want/need…	我wǒ不bù要yào。.。.。.	wǒ bùyào…

Example 4: I miss you, I want you

In this example I’d like to show how the meaning of “I want you” varies depending on whether 想xiǎng (xiǎng),要yào (yào) or 想xiǎng要yào (xiǎng yào) is used.

Here is a break down:

我wǒ	<want>	你nǐ
wǒ	<want>	nǐ
I	<want>	you

No contrast how the meaning varies depending on whether 想xiǎng (xiǎng),要yào (yào) or 想xiǎng要yào (xiǎng yào) in this sentence:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
I miss you / I want you	我wǒ想xiǎng你nǐ	wǒ xiǎng nǐ
I want you	我wǒ想xiǎng要yào你nǐ	wǒ xiǎng yào nǐ
I want you / I need you	我wǒ要yào你nǐ	wǒ yào nǐ

我想你 (wǒ xiǎng nǐ) means“I miss you”

It is important to understand that by itself 我wǒ想xiǎng你nǐ (wǒ xiǎng nǐ) means“I miss you”, however if you add to the sentence it will mean “I want you”, for example:

• “I want you to come and look” ssttrroonngg>>我wǒ想xiǎng你nǐ//ssttrroonngg>>来lái看kàn看kan (wǒ xiǎng nǐ lái kàn kàn)
• “I want you to be happy” ssttrroonngg>>我wǒ想xiǎng你nǐ//ssttrroonngg>>快kuài乐lè (wǒ xiǎng nǐ kuàilè)

Wrapping it up

I hope this has cast some light on the use of 想xiǎng (xiǎng), 要yào (yào) and 想xiǎng要yào (xiǎng yào) and their use.