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不然

bù rán
HSK 2.0 Level 5 HSK 3.0 Level 5 Conjunction Common

Definitions

  1. 1. not so
  2. 2. no
  3. 3. or else
  4. 4. otherwise
  5. 5. if not
  6. 6. How about ...?

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Word relationships

Register variants

1 item
要不
yào bù

otherwise

要不 is more colloquial; both can mean 'otherwise' or 'or else'

Related words

2 items
那么
nà me

like that

不然 can introduce a suggestion (How about...), similar to 那么
如果
rú guǒ

if

不然 is used in conditional structures; if not, then...

Synonyms

1 item
否则
fǒu zé

otherwise; if not; or (else)

when used as a conjunction meaning 'otherwise' or 'or else'

Usage notes

Formality

不然 is neutral and common in both spoken and written Chinese, while 否则 is slightly more formal and often used in warnings or formal conditionals.

Grammar

Guides that feature 不然

Jump into a full guide with fill-in-the-blank drills. Clicking will load the page and move you to the top.

3 guides
HSK 2.0 Level 4+ HSK 3.0 Level 4+ 6 min
...，否则... and 要不然 for “Otherwise”

Use 否则, 要不然 and 不然 to say what will happen if something doesn’t.

Reading: bù rán Open guide
HSK 2.0 Level 5+ HSK 3.0 Level 7–9+ 5 min
幸亏...，不然... for “Luckily …, Otherwise …”

Use 幸亏 or 幸好 with 不然 or 否则 to say that something lucky happened and saved you from a worse result.

Reading: bù rán Open guide
HSK 2.0 Level 4+ HSK 3.0 Level 6+ 6 min
除非...，否则/不然... for “Unless …, Otherwise …”

除非 names the only condition that works, and 否则 or 不然 says what will happen if it is not met: 除非你提前报名，否则不能参加.

Reading: bù rán Open guide

Example Sentences

3 shown
快走吧， 不然 要迟到了。
Hurry up, otherwise we’ll be late.
不然 呢！
Source: Tatoeba.org (ID 13111630)
快點， 不然 上學會遲到。
Source: Tatoeba.org (ID 13498371)

Sentence data courtesy of Tatoeba.org. AI-generated examples are marked with this icon.

Words Containing 不然

要不然
yào bù rán

otherwise

莫不然
mò bù rán

equally true for (all the rest)

Child Words of 不然

不
bù

no; not so

然
rán

correct