<p>First forget about yao3. As a Chinese I never heart yao3.</p>

<p>Second as yao1, maybe it's enough that just remember a few words, 要求(to demand)，要挟(to coerce).</p>

<p>I think yao4 is more common. We often use it as the meaning of 'want'.
我要买个大房子（I want to buy a big house). 
Sometimes it also means important.
重要人物(VIP)</p>

<p>And hinen is right, pronunciation is very important in Chinese, different pronunciation always has different meaning. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-10T09:41:23.123Z
2017-03-10T09:41:23.123Z
SleePy
<p>Try installing <a href="http://www.perapera.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.perapera.org</a>, Firefox/Chrome add-on. In it you can see:</p>

<p>要 yao1 - to demand, to request, to coerce</p>

<p>要 yao4 - important, vital, to want, will, going to (as future auxiliary), may, must, (used in a comparison) must be, probably</p>

<p>That means the first (yao1) is a common verb, followed by a noun (what you demand/request). The second (yao4) is either an adjective, a modal verb (may, must) or a verb followed by another verb (as in SleePy's 我要买个大房子).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-12T14:20:41.867Z
2017-03-12T14:20:41.867Z
Rodrigo
<p>In most cases, we cannot pick one of different pronunciations arbitrarily.
The reason is very simple.
If we can, we do not have to pronounce differently. Right?</p>

<hr>

<p><a href="http://dict.tw/" rel="noreferrer">DICT.TW 線上字典</a> can give you the commnon definitions in English.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>資料來源: MDBG CC-CEDICT Chinese-English Dictionary 漢英字典</p>
  
  <p>要 [ㄧㄠˋ; yao4]  </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>important<br>
    vital<br>
    to want<br>
    will<br>
    going to (as future auxiliary)<br>
    may<br>
    must<br>
    (used in a comparison) must be<br>
    probably  </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>資料來源: MDBG CC-CEDICT Chinese-English Dictionary 漢英字典</p>
  
  <p>要 [ㄧㄠ; yao1]  </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>to demand<br>
    to request<br>
    to coerce  </p>
  </blockquote>
</blockquote>

<hr>

<p>要 [ yǎo | ㄧㄠˇ | yao3]</p>

<p>This pronunciation is used in only one case.</p>

<p>要褭：古良馬名。<br>
The name of a kind of good horse in ancient times.</p>

<pre><code>褭 [ niǎo | ㄋㄧㄠˇ ]
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-09T21:50:22.503Z
[百度翻譯](http://fanyi.baidu.com/#zh/en/%E8%A6%81) can show the common definitions in English too. It also gives you many examples.
hinen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-12T14:12:42.153Z
"If we can, we do not have to pronounce differently. Right?" Not necessarily. Many differences come from geography, i.e. are dialects.
Rodrigo
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-09T21:36:07.780Z
2017-03-09T21:36:07.780Z
hinen
<p>What is the correct pronunciation of 要?</p>

<p>I've learned it as yao4 but a video said it is yao3. Then I checked it in an online dictionary and it provides 3 different pronunications: yao4, yao3 ,yao1</p>

<p>Can I just pick one of those tones arbitrarily? </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/o7kqi.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/o7kqi.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>dictionary : <a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqb=yao4" rel="noreferrer">https://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqb=yao4</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-09T14:50:18.917Z
My Chinese is not good enough to understand this site. So, can I just pick one of those (yao1 and yao4) or they have different meanings but the same character?
WVrock
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-09T15:56:51.453Z
Actually yao1 and yao4 have overlapping meanings, and I too have not heard of yao3.  OP is not asking for a translation of the character in some one context, but for a discussion of their comparative meanings.
Colin McLarty
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-09T19:14:09.437Z
＂现代汉语词典＂(1998) only has yāo and yào
user6065
<pronunciation>
Pronunciation of 要
# Pronunciation of 要

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-03-09)

What is the correct pronunciation of 要?

I've learned it as yao4 but a video said it is yao3. Then I checked it in an online dictionary and it provides 3 different pronunications: yao4, yao3 ,yao1

Can I just pick one of those tones arbitrarily?

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/o7kqi.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/o7kqi.png)

dictionary : <https://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=yao4>

**Tags:** pronunciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: My Chinese is not good enough to understand this site. So, can I just pick one of those (yao1 and yao4) or they have different meanings but the same character?  
> **username_1**: Actually yao1 and yao4 have overlapping meanings, and I too have not heard of yao3.  OP is not asking for a translation of the character in some one context, but for a discussion of their comparative meanings.  
> **username_2**: ＂现代汉语词典＂(1998) only has yāo and yào  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2017-03-09. Score: 12 | Accepted answer

In most cases, we cannot pick one of different pronunciations arbitrarily.
The reason is very simple.
If we can, we do not have to pronounce differently. Right?

---

[DICT.TW 線上字典](http://dict.tw/) can give you the commnon definitions in English.

> 資料來源: MDBG CC-CEDICT Chinese-English Dictionary 漢英字典
>
> 要 [ㄧㄠˋ; yao4]
>
> > important  
> > vital  
> > to want  
> > will  
> > going to (as future auxiliary)  
> > may  
> > must  
> > (used in a comparison) must be  
> > probably
>
> 資料來源: MDBG CC-CEDICT Chinese-English Dictionary 漢英字典
>
> 要 [ㄧㄠ; yao1]
>
> > to demand  
> > to request  
> > to coerce

---

要 [ yǎo | ㄧㄠˇ | yao3]

This pronunciation is used in only one case.

要褭：古良馬名。  
The name of a kind of good horse in ancient times.

```
褭 [ niǎo | ㄋㄧㄠˇ ]

```

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: [百度翻譯](http://fanyi.baidu.com/#zh/en/%E8%A6%81) can show the common definitions in English too. It also gives you many examples.  
> **username_4**: "If we can, we do not have to pronounce differently. Right?" Not necessarily. Many differences come from geography, i.e. are dialects.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-03-10. Score: 4

First forget about yao3. As a Chinese I never heart yao3.

Second as yao1, maybe it's enough that just remember a few words, 要求(to demand)，要挟(to coerce).

I think yao4 is more common. We often use it as the meaning of 'want'.
我要买个大房子（I want to buy a big house).
Sometimes it also means important.
重要人物(VIP)

And username_5 is right, pronunciation is very important in Chinese, different pronunciation always has different meaning.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-03-12. Score: 1

Try installing <http://www.perapera.org>, Firefox/Chrome add-on. In it you can see:

要 yao1 - to demand, to request, to coerce

要 yao4 - important, vital, to want, will, going to (as future auxiliary), may, must, (used in a comparison) must be, probably

That means the first (yao1) is a common verb, followed by a noun (what you demand/request). The second (yao4) is either an adjective, a modal verb (may, must) or a verb followed by another verb (as in username_3's 我要买个大房子).


---

