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必要

bì yào
HSK 2.0 Level 5 HSK 3.0 Level 5 Adjective Very common

Definitions

  1. 1. necessary
  2. 2. essential
  3. 3. indispensable
  4. 4. required

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Word relationships

Antonyms

1 item
不必要
bù bì yào

needless; unnecessary

不必要 means unnecessary.

Related words

1 item
需要
xū yào

to need; to want; to demand; to require

需要 (v.) means to need; 必要的 (adj.) describes something that is necessary.

Synonyms

1 item
必需
bì xū

to need

必需 (adj.) also means essential, but 必要 is more common in the sense of 'necessary'.

Usage notes

Collocations

必要 often appears in the structure 有必要 (yǒu bìyào) meaning 'it is necessary to' or 'there is a need to'.

Common mistakes

Don't confuse 必要 (adjective) with 必须 (adverb); you cannot say *很必须 (hěn bìxū), but you can say 很必要 (hěn bìyào).

Example Sentences

2 shown
不，沒有這個 必要 。
Source: Tatoeba.org (ID 339508)
沒有 必要 這麼生氣。
Source: Tatoeba.org (ID 798072)

Sentence data courtesy of Tatoeba.org.

Words Containing 必要

不必要
bù bì yào

needless; unnecessary

必要性
bì yào xìng

necessity

必要条件
bì yào tiáo jiàn

requirement

非必要
fēi bì yào

inessential

Child Words of 必要

必
bì

certainly

要
yāo

(bound form) to demand; to coerce

要
yào

to want; to need; to ask for