要 for commands

要 is often used to form imperative sentences in Chinese. That is, sentences that give commands. 要 is pretty much only used to form negative commands.

For example, 要 is the easiest way to express “don't”:

不要碰我的东西。

Búyào pèng wǒ de dōngxī.

Don't touch my stuff.

什么都不要说

Shénme dōu búyào shuō.

Don't say anything.

不要看我。

Búyào kàn wǒ.

Don't look at me.

Note that when 不 comes before 要, it becomes second tone due to tone change rules.

You may know that the particle 了 (le) can be used to indicate a change of state. If you combine this with 不要, you get commands that express “stop”.

Here are some examples:

不要说话了。

Búyào shuōhuàle.

Stop talking.

不要嘲笑我了！

Búyào cháoxiào wǒle!

Stop mocking me!

不要这样了！

Bú yào zhèyàng le!

Stop it!

You can also replace 不要 with 别 in most situations. A couple of examples:

别误会我。

Bié wùhuì wǒ.

Don't misunderstand me.

别打扰我。

Bié dǎrǎo wǒ.

Don't disturb me.

别离开我。

Bié líkāi wǒ.

Don't leave me.

These kinds of commands might also be expressed in English with “any more” or “again”, for example:

不要再喝了。

Bùyào zài hēle.

Don't drink any more.

你不要见她了吧。

Nǐ bùyào jiàn tāle ba.

Don't see her again.

When 了 is used in this way, it often corresponds with “any more” in English.

要 for future tense

Finally, 要 can be used to express future tense. This is similar to many European languages that express future actions with words like “want” or “will”. You might say that technically an intent or desire is being expressed, but everyone understands it as a future action.

Some examples:

他们要来这里吃饭。

Tāmen yào lái zhèlǐ chīfàn.

They're going to come here to eat.

我们明天要去颐和园。

Wǒmen míngtiān yào qù Yíhéyuán.

We're going to go to the Summer Palace tomorrow.

看起来要下雨了。

Kànqǐlái yào xiàyǔ le.

Looks like it's going to rain.

The example sentences in this article will give you a good foundation for understanding 要 in all of its contexts (you could use them for sentence mining). Just remember that the best approach to Chinese grammar is to develop your general sense for the language rather than trying to memorise specific rules.