yàobù chī huǒguō?

to eat

Breakdown of yàobù chī huǒguō?

• 火锅huǒguō: hot pot
• 要不yàobù: how about...?

Questions & Answers about yàobù chī huǒguō?

What does 要不 do in this sentence?

Here 要不 introduces a suggestion, similar to how about..., why don’t we..., or shall we... in English.

So 要不 吃火锅？ is a casual way to suggest the idea of eating hotpot.

A useful thing to know is that 要不 often sounds:

• informal
• conversational
• friendly

It is very common in spoken Mandarin.

Is 要不 the same as 要不要?

Not exactly.

• 要不要 usually means want or not want / do or not do, and often forms a yes-no question:

  • 你要不要吃火锅？ = Do you want to eat hotpot?

• 要不 in this sentence is more like a suggestion marker:

  • 要不吃火锅？ = How about eating hotpot?

They are related in feel, and learners sometimes mix them up, but they are not interchangeable in every sentence.

Why is there no subject, like 我们?

Chinese often leaves out the subject when it is obvious from context.

In a situation like friends deciding what to eat, 我们 is understood:

• 要不吃火锅？
• full version: 要不我们吃火锅？

Both are natural, but the shorter version is very common in conversation.

Chinese drops information that both speakers already know much more freely than English does.

Why is it and not ?